Frog Prince
by cookiemonstaah
Summary: Rima took a vacation to California and is staying over at Amu's flat. Both planed to have the best summer, but one event came up with another and now their plans had taken turns. Let's just hope Rima is up for the worst vacation ever. [ AU Rimahiko & Amuto ]
1. Chapter 1: Was that?

**Chapter One: Was that?**

The first thing Rima notices when she arrived California was that it was hot, really hot that her body started sweating ugly. The second she noticed when she sees her ride waiting for her, casually dressed in black skirt and wearing a carefree smile, is that Amu's hair was neon pink. It looked ridiculous.

"Rima! Rima!" Amu yells, waving her arms back and forth aggressively, almost slapping a passerby in the face "Over here!"

"Amu, were you under the impression I wouldn't see you?" Rima replies when she reaches her friend, dropping her suitcase on the floor ungracefully to give her friend a hug "Because I totally see you, anyone who was still two kilometers away will, with a hair like that."

"Hey! I'm trying here!" Amu retorted and pushed Rima from arm-length and posed "What do you think?"

"It's unique" Rima said as she felt her sweat drop onto her chest "Tell me your car has air-conditioning"

"It has," Amu says and Rima instantly sighs in the thought of cold air "But baby, I own a convertible so we're not using it"

Rima glared at her friend "I hate you Hinamori"

"Hey! You could at least pretend to love me," Amu teased "It's been a year since I left"

Amu's English is fluent, seeing that it is her language. Her Japanese though, it sucks, it sucks but she can speak it. Rima, on the other hand, can't speak enough English to save her life, save the heavily accent too.

"Well I'm here, aren't I?" Rima said and hold her heavy luggage up again, it had wheels, so even a petite girl like her can drag it around "I would like to be somewhere else though; somewhere with air conditioning. And possibly ice cream, but just the aircon would be a start."

Amu saved her tiny friend from her torture and carried Rima's luggage onto the backseat of her car with an ugly grunt "What's in that?" Rima opened her mouth to answer but Amu changed her mind "Never mind, you'd better not be thinking any smartass comments about my Japanese right now, either. I will make you try to speak English, and then where will you be?"

"I love you" Rima grins "You love me"

"I don't know what you're trying to say," Amu follows it up with a cheeky wink, "but whatever noise you just made, it wasn't English"

"I'll smother you in your sleep," Rima says with a smile, and it's almost as if it's only been a little while since she and Amu were last sitting next to each other, fondly insulting each other as a way of saying hello.

#

"I'm really glad you came to visit" Amu says over dinner "You sound so bored on the phone and I was under the impression of you dying on your couch, must have been lonely without a boyfriend"

Rima kicked her friend under the table and Amu tried kicking back, but failed when Rima dodged it "I'm really excited about the place you always talked about over the phone" Rima picks up the thick noodles with the disposable chopsticks Amu had handed her when the take-out had come "Minus the weather"

"California is a wonderful place" Amu grins, gazing outside at the beach the window gives "If there's anything I got used to in japan, it's that it's nothing compared to in here. Everyone loves the sun"

Rima tapped her chopsticks against her bowl, she follows Amu's gaze. "It seems okay here," Rima says "Except for the weather. I never imagined that it got worse than Japan in July but I was so wrong."

"You'll get used to it"

"Do you"

Amu laughs. "No" she says "It sucks forever. But the beaches make up for it and the boys distracts you completely from the heat with their tanned chests"

"That's the most depressing advice you've ever given me," Rima says. She sets her chopsticks down, full, and stretches. "I am going to sleep an eternity. I'm sorry if you had plans for my vacation because I am going to be channeling my inner Utau and sleeping like a body in a morgue for the next three days."

"You'll be staying in my guest room" Amu's face lights up like the lights during Christmas season "My very first guest!"

Rima looks one more time out the window as she stands. Something jumps, and it startles her into banging her knee into Amu's low-sitting table. She clutched her leg and scowls in the direction of the window. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Amu is laughing at her and Rima doesn't get what's so funny when she's seen Amu walk head-on into so many doors she's surprised Amu's nose hasn't gone flat to accommodate her.

"I saw something moving outside your window!" Rima narrows her eyes thoughtfully "Something fast."

"It's most likely a mosquito or something, Mashiro, nothing worth destroying your shins over."

"It was way bigger than a mosquito." Rima continues to rub absently at her shin "Way, way bigger."

"We're on the sixteenth floor, Rima."

"I'm telling you, I saw something!" It's true that it had looked way too huge to be hovering outside a window, but Rima is sure she saw it.

"The hallucinations have started," Amu whispers sadly.

Frowning, Rima squints one last time at the window before conceding defeat. "Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me," she says, and tugs on the neck of her t-shirt uncomfortably as Amu keeps laughing.

"A good three-day morgue nap and you'll be as good as new," Amu promises, and Rima allows herself to be led to Amu's guest quarters. "You're here for three whole weeks, so sleep as much as you need to get ready for Amu's mega-foxy-hot tour of California, Baby!"

"Does the tour cater to the English-lacking participants?" Rima yawns wide enough her jaw cracks and Amu snickers.

"It was made especially for English-lacking participants."

"Sounds perfect" Rima starts to close the door and Amu smiles again, still so bright and happy about… whatever she's so bright and happy about. Rima sees her look down at her phone.

"I'm really glad you came, Rima," Amu says, and Rima playfully pats her on the back.

"I'm glad I came too." Rima scratches at her hair and sighs. "Unless that massive thing I saw out your window really was a mosquito, in which case I should have stayed in Japan."

Amu rolls her eyes exaggeratedly. "Goodnight, Rima."

#

Amu had especially taken a break from her part-time jobs exclusively to hang out with Rima, so Rima doesn't sleep the promised seventy-two hours. Instead she peels herself out of bed, and washes her face, and puts on a simple sundress over a random bikini so that Amu can take her around the beach.

"You were right about the boys" Rima said taking a cold glass of something a star struck boy had given her for free "It does distract from the heat"

Amu rolled her eyes "You've always loved the attention"

"It's not my fault I'm that blessed" Rima flicked her golden wild excuse of a hair to her back and raises her sunglass up to her hair. She was always something, wherever she went, boys would give her looks and she enjoys it "Aren't you something too?"

Amu giggles as one of the boys flexed his muscles to impress her and his lady-companion scowled at him and glared at us. Amu was tempted to raise her middle but she knew better so she winked at the guy and turned back to a sweating Rima who looked absolutely sexy with her pose "So, what else do you want to do?"

Rima lifts her head and drops her shoulders in a shrug, scanning the beach with speculative eyes. When she looks across the street, near a vendor selling knock-off Americana shirts and hats, her gaze falls to a shadow on the sidewalk "Is that a frog?"

It's a big frog; bigger than any frog that Rima has ever seen. It's not just the mosquitos in California that are oversized, she thinks. She rubs at her eyes with the back of the unoccupied hand, but it's still there when she drops her hand; all slippery slimy skin and bulging eyes. It is most definitively a frog, and Rima has never heard of any frogs quite that large.

"What?" Amu places her drink on the counter top while winking at the guy who takes her glass away and then pokes at Rima's cheek. "Why would there be a frog?"

"Over there," Rima insists, pointing toward the vendor and Amu follows her finger skeptically, taking in the shirts with big off-color American flags and New York Yankees hats. "It's right…" But it's gone. The frog is gone. "I didn't imagine it— there was definitely a frog there."

"Rima, that doesn't even make sense. A frog would get trampled so easily out here."

"It was the size of a small dog" Rima pushes her second glass into Amu's hands for her to finish. "It would be hard to trample a frog the size of a Jack Russell Terrier."

Amu sets her hand on Rima's shoulder "Do we need to talk? I think you need to get out of your illusions, Rima. They're tickling your already over-active imagination. You're turning into one of those people."

"What are you trying to say, huh?"

"If you start talking to me about how the frog has a stop watch and wants you to follow it to Wonderland—"

"That was a white rabbit, Amu, a white rabbit in a waistcoat. I'm talking about—"

"The moral of the story is that you're imagining weird creatures, Rima"

"I didn't imagine the frog, Amu. There was a huge frog, right there!"

"Sure," Amu says "Maybe if you kiss him, he'll turn into a prince" she starts to pull Rima away, into the flow of traffic down the beach "Was he wearing a cute sweater? Frog boyfriends shouldn't be trusted unless they like European cut sweaters."

"Ha ha ha." Rima doesn't fight Amu's tug. "I'm not saying I believe in fairytales, only that my eyes are not bad enough that I would imagine a huge frog like that."

"I distinctly remember you swearing you saw Daniel Radcliffe once when we went to your modeling tournament," Amu says "You yelled Harry Potter off the balcony at the top of your lungs for minutes until Utau's boyfriend, Ku-what, carried you caveman style back inside."

"Kukai. I was drunk, Amu, give me a break" Rima quickens her pace to match Amu stride for stride as they weave through the throngs of people playing volleyball "Things happen when you're drunk and I'm not drunk right now" She pouts "I saw the frog, Amu."

"Sure you did, I totally believe you."

Rima gives up on convincing her friend. The boys effect is starting to wear off, and Rima feels the most disgusting glaze of sweat rising to the surface of her skin in an unattractive way "We could head toward a mall?"

"Actually," Amu says, her bubblegum pink hair bobbing thoughtfully as she pulls Rima toward a bus stop where it seems like a million people are waiting, "I went to the library once—"

Rima laughed and Amu glared at her friend "Why the heck were you at the library?"

"It has air-conditioning, there are a lot of hot geeky boys, plus the picture books were interesting" Amu said counting in her mind the reasons why and glared at her amused friend "Shut up and let me finish, anyway there's the book—"

"Let me guess, it had beautiful illustrations?"

"Yes, now it's a classic fairytale or a legend, I don't know" Amu said annoyed "It's a really old book but it was interesting to read and I ended up reading the whole story, in the end, my butt ached from the hours of sitting"

"I like legends," Rima said "Do tell"

"The legend, or fairytale, was about the royal family" Amu said "The boys, of the royal family"

Rima edged closer to her friend who seemed to lower her voice, which was pretty stupid since they were at an all-American filled place and a person would suddenly pop up and say they understand Japanese. Rima fought to insult her friend, but decided she would do so later, after Amu finishes he story.

"Well, I don't really remember much" Amu scratched her pink hair "But it starts from a long time ago. The prince was engaged to his first love and they were to wed soon. On their wedding day, his first love disappeared and he searched everywhere for her. After several years, he was getting old and he had no heir, so his mother told him to marry another princess of a kingdom" Amu shrugged "They did so, but a day after the wedding, his first love appeared and she was furious. She was kidnapped by some peoples who didn't want her as queen. She felt betrayed because he gave up so quickly" Amu made wild gestures "She was mad at the king"

"And then?" The bus pulls up, and Amu drags Rima on. They're smashed between bodies, and if Rima had thought it was hot before, it was nothing compared to now.

"It turns out the girl was magical since she was from a witch heritage" Amu said as Rima was practically sprawled on her to rid herself of from the boy who was trying to touch her.

"A witch?"

"It's a legend, or a fairytale!"

"What did she do with her magical powers, then?" Someone jostles Amu from behind, and she almost trips, but steadies herself since Rima was near her "Curse them?"

A couple other passengers turn to look at them; possibly surprised to hear Japanese on the bus. "Exactly," Amu says. "She cursed them. It's like a marriage curse."

"Like what now?" Rima was pushed forward when the bus halted and called a bus stop. Amu folded her arms as if to let Rima now this wasn't their stop. Rima cursed, she wanted out of this bus.

"Lie if the prince aren't married when they turn 25, they turn into a frog" Amu says "That doesn't mean you become a frog on your twenty-fifth birthday though. It can happen anytime, just, _Bam_, frog!"

A laughter bubbles onto Rima's throat "A what?"

"A frog," Amu says, snickering. "The prince gets turned into a frog. And he can't return to being a prince until he finds someone to kiss him. Then he'll turn back into a prince and live happily ever after with whatever odd human being walks around kissing frogs."

"What kind of curse is that even?" Rima shook her head "It sounds like some messed up Grimm fairytale"

"I think the logic of it was that if they were in such a hurry to marry and have kids, then she'd punish them for not being married at twenty five?" Amu has a single bead of sweat gracefully dripping down the side of her face, even though Rima might as well have jumped into a swimming pool of her own sweat at this point. "It's a really old legend. There's even an old movie version. We can watch it if you want, but it's pretty dodgy quality."

"No one gets married at twenty five anymore, these days," Rima says. "I feel sorry for your prince"

"It seems like Prince Sky is around that age," Amu says, finally nodding her head toward the exit of the bus, indicating they should get off at this stop "All the princes before that have been married off at eighteen, but he was studying abroad. Still is, I think?" Amu produces a noise Rima thinks is supposed to be a thinking noise, but instead is a little more like the slow churn of a cement mixer "He was in Europe, last I heard."

"How do you not know where the prince of your country is?"

"I don't do gossip" Amu shrugged "I have a friend though"

"_You?_"

"I should shove you in to traffic."

"But I came all this way to see you, Amu!" Rima says flirtatiously, and out of the corner of her eye, there it is again. "Amu, there's—"

"If you say you see a giant frog, nothing is going to stop me from pushing you in front of the bus we just got off of."

Rima turns her head all the way, and there it is again, standing at the bus stop like it had alighted off the vehicle just behind them. She blinks, and the frog is gone again, "Didn't you see it?"

"I think the heat is getting to me," Amu says. "I need more boys. Either that or your hallucinations are contagious"

"You did see it!" Rima says. Her long mane of hair was starting to stick on her neck.

"I didn't see anything," Amu replies. "It is very hot. I think we should both drink water and stop imagining giant amphibians"

* * *

**Cookie: A new story! I can't help it, I'm sorry. Don't worry, I won't let this get through me and ghost hunt. I just love Rimahiko as much as Mai&Naru (Maru? Nai? Someone put me out of this misery and tell me)**


	2. Chapter 2: Kiss the Frog

**I don't own shugo chara!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Kiss the Frog**

They dismissed the thought of water and bought two large sundaes at an ice cream shop from the mall and went out to resume their window shopping. When their feet had finally ached, they sat, thrown their sundae cup on the trash bin next to the bench they had ruled over and Rima flapped her hand to calm her sweating body.

"Maybe we should go home," Amu says "You look like you need a bath"

"Maybe it will be cooler tomorrow," Rima says, and Amu pins her with a stare harder than her usual ones. "Or maybe not, I can at least hope the weather will take pity on me."

"It's cute that you think California cares about your 'sensitivity'," Amu says.

It's still bright daylight when they make it back to Amu's flat, even Amu looking a bit sun weary and worn down "You look disappointed about us calling it a day," Rima says "Sorry I don't have your stamina."

Two seconds and Amu reconsiders. "I wanted you to meet a friend of mine," she says. "But I haven't been able to get in touch with him for a week or so."

"A friend?" Rima prods "Or _a friend_?"

"Ikuto is one of those that doesn't require the eyebrow lifting and smug grins, Rima" Still, Amu reaches for her phone again, halting only when Rima's smirk grows in inverse proportion to the distance between Amu's hand and her pocket. "Asshole"

"Is he tall? You like them tall." So does Rima. That's about the only thing their types have in common, though most boys would be taller than Rima, she's only about 5 foot 5 and Amu was close to a 5'7" like every girl she'd seen so far.

"I changed my mind, you can go back to sleep for the next three weeks—" They walk into the lobby of Amu's apartment building, and Amu stops walking mid step, clumsily tripping forward enough that Rima has to rescue her reluctantly by grabbing a handful of her shirt to keep her from falling, only the move almost made her slip too; catching a taller girl.

"Only you, Mashiro Rima, could convince me that giant frogs are real without a whole lot more tequila than we've had all afternoon," Amu says, eyes bugging out of her head as she looks ahead of them. Rima's eyes pass the elevator and land on what is sure enough the same frog she's been seeing all day.

"We haven't had any tequila this afternoon," Rima replies faintly, and Amu curses loudly. Thankfully, the night guard hasn't come on shift yet to reprimand her like she'd done last night, when Amu had dropped Rima's suitcase on her own foot.

"Then why am I seeing a fucking frog?" Amu's doing that ugly python face; Rima doesn't have to look to see it "Seriously, Rima, now I need some tequila" Amu straightens herself up, rubbing her palms on her thighs "So we're going to go upstairs and have ourselves a drink."

Amu jams her finger into the elevator call button repeatedly, like pressing it multiple times will make it come faster. The ding of the elevator doors makes them both turn their heads, and when they turn back, the frog is gone, no evidence that it was ever there at all.

"Amu—"

"Hanging out with you is terrible for my mental health," Amu says "I don't have time to imagine giant frogs, Rima." They exit on the sixteenth floor, walking back into Amu's flat and shutting the door on the weirdness they'd experienced downstairs "I shouldn't have told you that stupid legend. You're going to have me imagining frogs everywhere."

"What if it's real?" Rima says, as Amu pours them each a drink "What if that's your prince outside, Amu?"

"First of all, I'm pretty sure this heat stroke is bad if we're both seeing that thing," Amu says "Second of all, you've been reading way too many fantasy novels. You can kiss that thing the next time we see it."

"I promise I will. Don't be jealous when he turns into royalty," Rima says, letting Amu push a tumbler full of liquor into her hand. "I'll let you come to my frog wedding."

Rima knows alcohol is dehydrating, but it burns in her throat and this afternoon has been so very weird.

"I'll still be your friend even if you're into bestiality, Rima," Amu says, after taking a healthy drink from her glass "I did forgive you for the time you almost touched the toys in the shop we had passed by after the bar" Rima chokes and tequila goes up her nose "None of your sexual… preferences can faze me now. I'm immune."

"I still swear that wasn't what it looked like—"

Amu raises her glass, and Rima puts that argument aside for another day. "To the beginning of an exciting vacation," Amu says "Hopefully with fewer frogs."

"I'll drink to that," Rima says.

#

"How's that vacation?!" A voice shouted to her over the phone "Enjoying the time with Amu?"

"Yaya, this is Utau's phone right?" Rima winced.

"Yup, my phone's battery died so I had to call right now!" Yaya said and she heard a voice shouting at the girl, the line went messy and then it went clear.

"Sorry, I told Yaya to ring your phone, I didn't know she would actually start a conversation" Utau said "How California?"

"It's hot!" Rima complained "Repulsively hot. Excruciatingly hot. Like an oven"

"I would walk around naked if I were you, after all, last time I had a concert there at the beach the girls were…" Utau trailed of "Barely wearing anything"

"Do I look like Sanjo Yukari to you?" Rima replies, curling deeper into her bed, thin blanket more than enough, and Utau laughs "It's so hot that I've started hallucinating frogs."

"Hallucinating frogs?"

"Amu told me some bullshit story about the Royal family when I told her I was seeing frogs. Then she made me get on an oven bus and then hang out outside. I'm going to die, Utau"

"You're so vain" Utau teased "Well, not everyone can be blessed with my awesome voice and beautiful hair. Your hair is a painful mess"

"The city is beautiful," Rima continues, ignoring Utau. "Except for the frog incidents, I'm enjoying myself a lot."

"Wait, wait," Utau says "How many times have you seen the frog?" She sounds intrigued.

"Well," Rima thinks about it, "I saw it three times on the first day of sightseeing." She pushes her head back into her pillow "Then, yesterday, twice more." Rima had tried to focus on the vendors selling art and handcrafted souvenirs, but the frog had plagued her afternoon, like it was following them or something like that. Amu hadn't noticed it at all today, having passed it off as some wacky vision from too much heat "Amu saw it, once, but she refuses to believe it's real."

"You know how this all sounds, right?" Utau snorts "You sound crazy, Rima."

"I know, I know," Rima says "But I'm completely serious! I keep seeing this dumb frog and I'm going to pull all of my hair out!"

"Calm down, your turning mental from the heat" Utau said, trying to sound worried, but her laughter says so otherwise.

"Yeah, yeah," Rima says, rolling her eyes "Laugh it up. But I'm telling you, there's a giant frog following me around"

"I can't wait to tell Kukai about this." Utau makes a thoughtful noise, then "This is weird, but I think we watched some kind of claymation movie in English class in college about the whole frog thing. Where the King gets married and then there's a curse that turns all of his male descendants into frogs until they find someone to kiss them?"

"That's the one," Rima says. "Amu told it to me on the bus."

"Our teacher told us that was why all the royal princes got married off out of high school despite the fact that people are getting married later and later these days," Utau says "It must be so weird to have your future spouse picked out for you at eighteen"

Rima, at sixteen, was wearing designer clothes. Rima at eighteen, was still a bit of a bitch minus the braces "The current prince isn't married, though," Rima says "And apparently he's off studying abroad in Europe"

"And he's twenty-five," Utau says "So I think that proves it's just a legend, doesn't it?" Laughing, Utau yells at Yaya in the room with her, covering the speaker with one hand before returning to Rima "The Prince of America is a hottie, Rima, tall as all get out with legs for kilometers and a great smile."

"More my type than a frog," Rima says "For sure" Rima pouts "I don't trust your judgment, though. You're into Kukai. You can't possibly understand my type"

"You keep saying you have a type, but I have never seen you actually go on a date, Mashiro Rima"

"That's because I'm waiting to be swept off my feet," Rima says. She closes her eyes. She isn't lonely, or anything like that. She doesn't know why everyone seems to think she should be. "Every boy had been the same when they see me. I'm not ready to settle for just anyone."

"What a princess you are."

"I dare you to say that to my face," Rima replies. "When I get back to the office, call me a princess to my face, Utau"

"You couldn't hurt me," Utau says "I've seen you arm-wrestle. A four-year-old could crush you."

"I'm a trained martial artist," Rima says. "I will kick you right in that fat head of yours."

"Sure, sure" There's a familiar cough and Utau laughs nervously. "I've got to get back to work," Utau says "Yukari's on my ass for being on the phone this long already"

"I'll talk to you soon," Rima says. "I've got to get up and face the possibility of going outside for the day, anyway." Amu had maliciously mentioned biking over dinner last night, and Rima knows Amu will make her do it.

"See you when you get back, Rima" Utau says, and Rima slithers out of bed to get ready for her day.

#

The news is playing, and it sounds like nothing more than background music to Rima, who only knows like ten words in English, and at least five of those words are foods "Did we have to ride bikes all day?"

"Yes of course we did," Amu says. "And wasn't that a lovely way to explore the city?" It had been. The best part of all had been the complete lack of frogs. Rima thinks it must be hard for frogs to keep up with fast moving bicycles.

Rima grudgingly grunts her agreement "Yeah, it was pretty fun," she says. "How are you not hot?"

"Superior genetics," Amu says, dodging Rima's kick by mere centimeters. "Or SPF 50 sunscreen. I put it on every day after I shower. Ikuto told me it was important to prevent wrinkles."

"Ikuto this, Ikuto that," Rima says in a lilting voice. Every day, Rima becomes more and more curious about Amu's mysterious friend. So, she thinks, that Amu, who keeps checking her phone waiting for a text message or call that never comes.

"Children should be seen not heard," Amu says, and Rima kicks her again, ther time landing her foot right into Amu's thigh "You little—!"

"I'm only a couple of years younger than you, Amu—" Rima begins, but then she sees it, outside the window. "There it is!"

"The frog? Again?" Amu rolls her eyes "Rima, I don't know what weird drugs were in the water when I thought I saw that thing too, but it doesn't…" She's turning to the window as she speaks, and her words cease as she too sees the frog, webbed feet pressed against the glass as it balances precariously on Amu's wide window ledge.

"It's going to fall," Rima says, as the frog wobbles. Its webbed feet paw anxiously at the window, and Rima, for some unknown reason, cares what happens to it "Let it in."

"How did it even get up here?" Amu says, still staring glossy-eyed out the window "This is the sixteenth floor."

"Well it'll be back on ground level unless you open the window!" Rima lifts herself up off the ground, wincing as all her body complained, and moves swiftly to the window. She fumbles with the latches and finally undo them "I'm going to open the window, big guy, so you can't use it for balance right now."

The frog seems to understand her, teetering back on thick hind legs and leaning on the side edge of the window where it meets the building for support as Rima lifts the window up. A gush of hot air comes inside that has Rima whining even as she reaches out and grabs for the frog.

It jumps into her arms, slimy and gross and icky, and Rima's going to change her shirt and pajamas as soon as she gets this sorted because everything feels disgusting.

"You're letting the air con out of the flat," Amu says faintly, and Rima looks up at her wildly.

"Then close the window, Amu!"

The window slams shut, and it's Rima, Amu, and the frog in Rima's lap, alone together in Amu's flat.

"The frog is real," Amu says. "I hate that the frog is real. Sadly, I preferred the idea that you were just imagining it."

"I told you I wasn't," Rima says, then moves to slap a hand over her mouth because she actually shouted it, and it's late enough at night she might have disturbed the neighbors. But there's slime on her hand and now it's all over her mouth and she wants to die "That's so gross oh my god it's so gross"

Rima considers being afraid, but so far all the frog has done is breathe on her and be slimy, and while these are not things Rima enjoys, they aren't really fear inspiring.

Amu stares back and forth between the frog and Rima's disgusted face. She looks paler than usual, and confused, but then a mischievous light comes into her eyes, even as her hands continue to shake. "Oh, Rima," she singsongs, "you made me a teensy weensy promise, didn't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Rima asks, and Amu smiles at her, fear and anxiousness disappearing behind malicious glee. Rima wipes her hands on her shirt, and wonders if the frog is planning to get out of her lap.

"Remember what you promised me you'd do if we saw the frog again?" Chocolate fudge, Rima totally does remember that promise, made before she and Amu had had three too many glasses each of that tequila "It's the moment of truth, baby"

Rima looks at the frog on her lap, who is looking up at her with what seems to be earnest confusion, and sighs. The frog has human eyes, Rima thinks, a pretty deep blue, almost a violet color and an expression in them that seems more like the expression dhe herself makes when Amu starts blurting out things to waiters in English.

The slime from her hands tastes like sour milk on her lips, and the last thing she wants is too lean down and kiss the thing. Rima knows Amu, though, and she knows the only way she'll get out of ther is to actually do it, because Amu is persistent as hell and only remembers things that bring someone misery.

"Fine," Rima says, pronouncing her own death sentence.

"That was easy," Amu says suspiciously. "Are you sure you don't have a frog kink?" Amu is lucky that Rima has this really heavy frog in her lap, or she'd be toast.

"You won't shut up unless I do it, will you?"

"Not at all," Amu says. "Hold on, let me get my phone. I have to take a video for Utau and the rest"

"You're the worst," Rima whines, before licking her lips. It's a mistake, because they still taste like the slime "Don't take a video of me, I look unpresentable" Amu makes an 'I don't care' noise "Here I go."

It happens so fast. Rima leans forward, and presses her mouth to the frog's face, right between his big, wild, human-like eyes, and then there's a flash of light so bright it burns more than Rima's aching muscles. She closes her eyes, and feels a crushing weight above her, pinning her to the floor as Amu screams like Yaya at a candy shop.

When Rima opens her eyes, she no longer has a lapful of frog. Now, instead, she has a lapful of butt-naked man with those same earnest deep blue eyes and a shocked expression on his face. "Oh," Rima says, weakly, and Amu stops screaming, covering her mouth with her hands, and Rima can barely breathe with the large man's huge hands pressing down on both her wrists and the man's thighs straddling her lap

"Hi," the man says "I'm Prince Sky" The man smiles down at Rima, showcasing his gums as his blue hair falls across her forehead. "And I guess you're my…uh… betrothed."

"You're not a frog," Rima says, intelligently.

"_Ikuto?_" Amu says, in disbelief, and Rima thinks the only option there is, when a giant stalker frog turns into a big handsome man right on your lap, is blacking out, so that's what she does.

* * *

**Cookie: I'm sorry *runs away* I can't think of any other name other than Sky *ducks* please stop throwing your tomatoes and throw cookies instead!**


	3. Chapter 3: Nude Greek Statue

**Chapter 3: Nude Greek Statue**

Rima wakes up on the softest pillows and sheets she's ever been on in her life. "What…"

"Good morning," Amu says "We're in the imperial palace and you're engaged to marry the crown prince of America"

"I'm going back to bed," Rima says, rolling over onto her stomach. "I hate hanging out with you. We always go on these horrible benders and then I can't remember anything through the brown-outs. I'm not as young as I used to be, Amu"

"This is not a drill, Rima!" Amu says, shaking Rima's shoulders. The pillows are so soft, and Rima could just go back to sleep… "I repeat, this is not a drill!"

Rima gives up, rolling back onto her back and looking up at Amu. "Do you really expect me to believe—"It comes rushing back, then; the frog, the kiss, the naked man "Where's the nude Greek statue?"

"Your priorities," Amu says, her laughter is strained, and Rima looks at her more closely. She looks like she hasn't slept all night, and the tired lines around her mouth make her look kind of droopy and sad, like the flowers on Utau's desk that Kukai gave her for Valentine's Day that she's watered maybe once "That naked man turned out to be the Prince"

"You called her Ikuto, though," Rima remembers suddenly. "You did!"

"Prince Sky…" Amu's frown has become more pronounced, "Prince Sky is Ikuto. They're the same person"

"Your friend is the prince? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know," Amu replies stiffly, and Rima gets the impression that they've recently fought about that very fact "But now I do. You'll be marrying him in two months, by the way, A September wedding."

"Don't be ridiculous," Rima says "I won't be marrying anyone. I hardly know him"

"You don't really have a choice," Amu says. "At least, as far as I've been able to work out talking to the royal advisor."

"What do you mean, I don't have a choice?"

"So it turns out that kissing the frog is a kind of… magical contract," Amu says. "The kind that compels you to get married or something… bad will happen."

"Something _bad_?" Rima feels like a parrot, and while she's always liked them, she likes to consider herself capable of independent thought.

"Something bad," Amu repeats. "So you're marrying the prince"

"And in my sleep, I have been relocated to the palace."

"I tried to wake you up for the fanfare but you were out like a light. You were drooling when one of the bodyguards threw you over his shoulder. It was embarrassing. You're embarrassing."

"This is your entire fault," Rima says. "You and your delight in other people's misery" Rima scrubs at her face with both hands, relieved when they come away clean of both slime. Her body still aches, but it's less than it had been the night before "I've kissed a frog and it's turned into a prince, and hell, Amu, now what am I supposed to do?" her words are half scream, half sob, and Amu grabs her in a hug as she starts to shake "Can I wake up from this dream now?"

"Sorry, but no," Amu says, and Rima's just about to reply when the door bursts open, a tall, green-haired man running inside.

He says something in rapid-fire English, and Amu quickly starts talking back, letting Rima go so she can fully engage in conversation. Rima notes that the man has his hand on a sword of some sorts, and he only lets go once Amu's hurried explanation trails off.

He nods, his dark green scanning Rima like he's looking for injuries, and then he's gone again, out the door, leaving Rima and Amu alone again inside the room that Rima is beginning to realize is bigger than her flat and Amu's combined. The embroidery of the blanket over her feels good under her fingertips, and she absently plays with it as she waits for Amu to tell her what just happened.

"He heard you scream," Amu says. "He's your bodyguard, now."

"My bodyguard?" Rima focuses on the colors of the embroidery. It's a pretty gold, and Rima traces the pattern with her thumb as Amu sighs.

"Your bodyguard," she confirms "You're an important person now." her dayglow hair is not styled, hanging limply on her forehead "They only let me stay because you can't speak a word of English"

"Because I'm going to marry the crown prince of America," Rima says. Her throat feels like it's swelling shut, and her heart is beating so fast "I haven't been on a date in three years and I'm getting married." She finds herself laughing, and tears prick at the corners of her eyes. "Married. Terrific."

"Rima, calm down," Amu says. "Ikuto… Or Prince Sky, I mean… He's…" Rima looks up at Amu, who's clenching her jaw so tight that Rima is afraid she's going to crack her molars. "He's a good guy, a great guy. He's kind, and handsome, and…"

"And so very honest with you," Rima interjects, and Amu scowls and slaps her upside the head before Rima can deflect it.

"You're so violent," Rima says, and Amu gives her an arched eyebrow of look who's talking before she hunches forward and grabs Rima's hand.

"This is a huge honor, Rima," Amu says. "I know it must seem absolutely insane to you, but…"

"Why would you think that?" Rima asks. "Why would waking up in what is apparently the royal palace after kissing a frog that turned into a naked man and being forced to get married to him seem insane?" Rima slumps back into her pillows, pulling her hand free of Amu's and dragging her covers up over her head until Amu yanks them down again "That's normal, right? Ha, Normal."

"I never thought the legend would be real," Amu says, and Rima, who has been existing in a subspace created by her own denial, feels herself quaking with fear at the tone of Amu's voice.

"Me either," Rima says, and while she's always wanted to believe in magic, a little, Rima has never before wished the world were ordinary and mundane as much as she wishes that now.

#

Prince Sky knocks on Rima's door two hours later. An hour previous, a team of four servants had come into the room and kidnapped her, scrubbing her from head to toe as she cursed and whined about her sunburn, Amu laughing the whole time. Then they'd carefully dressed her in layer after layer of ball gown. Nice fabric, but far too much of it for a hot July day in Cali- screw Califorinia, for al she knows she may be at Egypt.

"I'm not going to make it, Amu," Rima says "Tell them they're mummifying me."

"These are the traditional clothes of my people," Amu says with a smirk. "You should be more respectful."

"I'll be more respectful when I'm dead," Rima says "Which will be in about five minutes if I'm not allowed to peel off at least the petticoat"

"I'll speak fondly of you at your funeral," Amu replies.

"No you won't," Rima says, and Amu laughs as if to imply that she agrees.

The servants apply makeup to her face, smoothing away the imperfections, which was close to none since the only imperfection was the bump when she fell, and Rima is shocked when she looks into the mirror when they're done, her hair was gracefully done that she almost can't believe it's stil herself. The hair makes the difference.

"You look so different," Amu says quietly, and Rima nods as her hand skims down the elegant dress pale yellow organza"I've never seen anyone wear gowns in broad daylight outside of a drama before."

"A what?" Rima asks, and Amu laughs.

"You're a shame."

"Not my forte," Rima says, pushing a pieces of carefully styled hair off of her forehead. The headpiece she's wearing is hurting her scalp and her neck is already starting to ache.

"What is your forte?" Amu asks. "Imagining things that aren't there?"

"The frog was there," Rima says, and then she makes herself smile into the mirror for Amu to see "What if Daniel Radcliffe was there, too? What if, after all this time, it turns out I just have superior eyesight?"

"In your dreams," Amu replies, and Rima prepares a retort.

Everything settles back down into nervousness and solemnity, though, as the knock resounds through the room. The green haired man Amu had said was Rima's bodyguard steps into the room and clears her throat.

He says a lot of things, but Rima only hears what she thinks is 'Sky' before he's moving aside and admitting the naked man into Rima's sight.

He's not naked ther time. He's wearing clothing pretty similar to Rima's, his hair swept back from his forehead and his eyes dark and serious. His chin is strong, Rima notices, and his hands are huge

"Hi," he says again, in English, and Rima gulps.

"Hi," she replies back, and Amu exhales heavily.

"The prince," Amu says coolly, and the prince winces visibly at the chill in her voice, "doesn't speak very good Japanese. He knows some, though, so you should be able to speak to him"

"I can say a few things," the prince says.

"It's nice to meet you," Rima says. "Again. Clothed."

The prince blushes, and he suddenly seems a lot less cool and a lot more nervous "You look nicer," he says. "Without the…" he motions at her bump on the forehead, and Rima is mortified to remember the last time he'd seen the man, she'd had her face covered in aloe to soothe a horrid bump from the biking.

"Thanks," Rima says, before she looks down to memorize the floor or the pattern on her fancy heels or anything but the prince's face "I don't know what to call you."

"Ikuto is fine," he says, and Rima sneaks a glance at Amu. Amu is scowling, arms crossed "I prefer Ikuto."

"Alright then, Ikuto," Rima says "I want to go home."

"I'm afraid you can't," Ikuto says miserably "There's a curse on my family. You broke my curse, so you're stuck with me."

"So what now?" Rima feels like she's drowning in the clothes. It's hot, and Amu is upset, and she's pretty sure her shoulders are peeling "I stay here? Forever? What about my job, and my flat, and—"

Rima tries not to panic, but it's hard when she doesn't know what's going on or what she's supposed to do.

"We'll take care of everything," Ikuto says stiffly "But right now, you have to be introduced to the King and Queen as my intended."

"I have to meet the them?"

"Yes," Ikuto says, standing straighter and frowning "You do" He looks apologetically at Amu "I'm sorry, but…"

"I can't come," Amu says and tried not to glare at the prince "I know. I'm leaving the palace ther afternoon, anyway. I have my own life to get back to" She seems like she wants to say more, but whatever it is, she keeps to herself.

"You can't abandon me here," Rima says, and Amu pats her gently on the back, more gently than she's ever touched Rima before. Rima isn't some doll now that she's wearing these fancy brocade clothes, and she frowns deeply at Amu "I don't speak English"

"I don't have a choice," Amu says "I don't belong here." She looks at Rima, then quickly at Ikuto, before rubbing her hands on her own simple gown. She's dressed up, Rima realizes, and she looks as uncomfortable as Rima does "You do, now."

"No I don't!" There's not nearly enough air in the room, and Rima balls her hands up into fists, nails probably leaving crescents in her palms "I can't even remember my English name!"

"It's Marie," Amu reminds her. "Good luck"

"I'm going to kick your ass," Rima snarls. "Good luck?"

"Please watch your language," Ikuto says, smoothing the front of his fancy coat with one of his monstrous hands "We try not to speak like that in the palace"

Bleakly, Rima stares at Ikuto, and then at the green haired man who is waiting impatiently at the door, frowning with thin lips and flexing his biceps.

"No cursing," Rima says. "Got it."

"We mustn't keep the Emperor waiting," Ikuto says "Please allow me to escort you"

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Rima asks, and Ikuto' expression is caught between frustration and sadness.

"No," he says. "You don't."

#

Ther is the prettiest cage Rima has ever been in, but it's still a cage, and everywhere she looks there are all these high, mosaiced walls keeping her inside, Rapunzel in her tower.

It's not that anyone even wants her here. The King had looked down on her with disdain when she'd tried to bow and tripped over her feet, and when she'd turned to greet the Queen the jewels of her necklace were so bright that Rima had sneezed all over herself, her nose running and probably messing up all the servants' hard work on making her presentable. Someone had laughed at her, and then everyone was laughing, and Rima wanted more than anything to go home or that her dress would actually eat her alive like they'd been threatening to since she put them on.

No one talks to her, either, because she doesn't speak English and while she's surprised at how much Japanese the people around her pick up, it's not enough for a conversation.

Ikuto can talk to her, but he doesn't, disappearing after the disastrous introduction and leaving Rima on her own with the tall green-haired bodyguard that Rima realizes, with a sinking feeling, follows her everywhere but into the shower.

The first night, when Rima is all alone in her huge room, she stared up at the gold-decorated ceiling and wishes her family or Amu or Utau or Kukai were here, or that she'd brought something along on her vacation, just to give her something else to think about.

Rima doesn't want to be by herself, because all she can do is dwell on the fact that for the first time in her life, something magical has happened to her, just like she'd always secretly dreamed of, but it's left her all alone, with everything she knows ripped away from her and nothing to really look forward to except a future of being stared at and finally having to buckle down and learn English.

By the third night, she regrets not having her laptop.

The days alone are hard, but the nights are harder, because it's an unfamiliar place and the sheets are soft but don't smell like her detergent and she likes to sleep in cotton shorts but they keep forcing her into silky sleepwear. During the day, at least, Rima is forced into manners lessons taught by a woman who seems to despise Rima more than she'd despise gum on the bottom her designer shoes, and food she doesn't recognize but is delicious. She has her unnamed green-haired bodyguard following her around and unseen parts of her prison to explore. At night, there's the silence, and the nothingness.

She has nightmares about frogs, and she thinks she has developed an unhealthy phobia of amphibians.

She can't sleep, at all, and on the fourth night, she thinks she'll lose her mind if she doesn't have anyone to talk to.

She takes out her phone and navigates to the skype option, selecting Kukai's name and hoping it's not too late for Kukai to be on his computer.

It isn't, and Kukai answers the call drowsily. "Rima?"

"Hey," Rima says, choking up and hating that she's choking up. "Do you have time to talk?"

"Can't you just order me to talk," Kukai says, sleepy and soft "Aren't you the queen of everything now? I saw you on the news."

"No," Rima says. "I'm not the queen of anything and I want to go home."

"Are you crying?" Kukai says, suddenly sounding panicked "You never cry. Don't cry. I don't know what to do if you start to cry, Utau's not here"

"I'm not going to cry, Kukai, so stop yelling" Rima laughs, the hilarity somehow worming out past the misery in her chest.

"You're the one who's always louder than me" Kukai says "I'm the one who tries to sleep through it when it happens"

"You try to sleep through everything," Rima says "Kukai, I don't speak English."

"You're so charming, though," Kukai says "In an annoying kind of way. I bet they love you already."

"They hate me," Rima says "Everyone here hates me."

"Isn't Amu there?"

"She isn't allowed to visit me," Rima says "And every time I call her she gets all sad and stuff and I don't know what to do about it."

"She probably feels guilty for asking you to come to California now that you're trapped there forever," Kukai says, and then he gasps "I mean, I'm sure it's not forever, Rima—"

"It is, though," Rima says "I'm stuck here forever and ever."

"They can't really keep you locked up there, right? You're not even American!"

"Apparently there's some kind of magical contract," Rima says "So they can."

"What happens if you break it?" Kukai is getting sleepy again, and Rima realizes Kukai has work in a few hours. She should let him go. She selfishly doesn't want to.

"I'm afraid to ask," Rima says, but later that night, as she tries futilely to fall asleep, she wonders if it could be worse than this already is.

* * *

**Cookie: There you have it! I've also updated Ghost hunt, it's only fair I update both at the same time xD Reviews if you have time.**

**Rima: Oh please, who would want a cheap fanfic by a cookie?**

**Cookie: You're just mad I had you engaged with Ikuto! *sticks tongue out***

**Rima: About that matter, I'll let Amu handle it.**

**Amu: COOOKIEEE! HOW COULD YOU?!**


	4. Chapter 4: Just Nagihiko

**Here's the update, it's kinda late since I had to rush the update for my other fanfic xD Oh well xD**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Just Nagihiko**

Ikuto does visit her for breakfast on the morning of the fifth day. He's wearing a regular suit and Rima gapes at his broad shoulders before she remembers that Ikuto is the whole reason she's here in the first place and pouts at him.

"Why are you allowed to wear real people clothes and I'm stuck in this?"

"I'm leaving the grounds today," Ikuto says "And you're not allowed to until we're married." Trapped, trapped, trapped bounces around in Rima's head as she glares at her breakfast

"What if I don't want to get married," Rima says grumpily, pushing her food around on her plate with her chopsticks. "What if I want to go home and read horrible novels about magical orphans saving the day?"

"I'm sorry," Ikuto says, a pained look on his face that Rima is learning to know means he's annoyed. It looks so similar to the face Rima's opponents made when she kicked them in the balls during judo matches that she's been starting to think Ikuto wears his underwear too tight "But as I've already said—"

"I don't have a choice. I remember."

"Neither of us have a choice," Ikuto clarifies, and Rima feels a little bit guilty that, as stuck as she is with Ikuto, Ikuto is equally stuck with her. Not really, though, because it's Rima who basically has to give up her whole life to be here, and it's all stupid Ikuto's fault in the first place.

"I want to go home," Rima says.

"There's nothing I can do about it," Ikuto says. "I'm just as trapped here as you are, now."

"Yay," Rima says "Well, at least we can be miserable together."

#

She drags her bodyguard and a couple of what, she guesses, are her servants with her out to the gardens that afternoon. They are quickly becoming her favorite place in the palace, because while it is outside, sweltering and miserable and just as humid as the rest of America, at least here she's not afraid she's going to make a fool out of herself in front of everyone.

And hour later, her brow is soaked with sweat, her stomach grumbles, too, and her stoic bodyguard, unfazed by the heat, laughs at her a little before he signals to another servant with a single gesture.

A few minutes later, the man guides Rima to a table in the middle of the gardens. It's low, and there are silk cushions spread out in the middle of the small courtyard. There are beautiful flowers all around them, and Rima has never felt as plain as she does here, dressed in clothes that swallow her up and unable to speak.

A servant brings a plate of dumplings out to the gardens, and Rima accepts them with a smile and a clumsy "Thank you" in English

She turns to the man, who stands hovering awkwardly behind her, and smiles "Alone?" she asks in English again.

She doesn't actually want to be alone, but being with people who don't understand her at all doesn't do anything to curb her loneliness, so she at least wants a few moments of peace, by herself, where she's not feeling watched or dissected or stuck. She could maybe eat her dumplings and pretend she's just visiting some lovely gardens south of Japan; the kind her mom liked to drag her to when she was a kid.

The man briefly hesitates, and Rima isn't sure if he's trying to make sure he understood Rima or if he's checking Rima's request against some extensive list of orders he has stored up in her head. "Fine," he says, which Rima has learned, in the past four days, means a 'hai' in Japanese.

With that, Rima is left alone in the garden with her own thoughts and more dumplings than any normal person could consume. She wishes Amu was here with her, sitting across the table and calling her a lardass as she dips the dumplings one by one into the soy sauce with her bare hands, not making the effort to use the ornately patterned chopsticks. They look to be made of ivory, and probably cost more than Rima's flat. Yes, it made her feel all giddy and it makes her feel like it's a waste to use it.

She angrily shoves a dumpling into her mouth, and barely chews it before she swallows it down.

"Hullo," says a silky, rich voice, and Rima spins around, elbow hitting the dumplings on the table and knocking them to the grass "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you" He's not wearing traditional clothes, like Rima is. He's wearing tight jeans and a thin white T-shirt, and a big pair of headphones on his neck. His hair is long and violet, soft and silky, and Rima admires the fact that even in nothing special, he still looks like he belongs here more than Rima does wearing all the fluffy gowns.

"I wasn't scared," Rima says, defensively, before wincing down at the remains of the dumplings. "I was only… startled." She straightens out her back, preparing to tough her way through their conversation same as she has all the others, the ones who had judged her harshly.

Rima is starting to get used to the way people here look down on her; they think she's uncultured and foreign and not quite the princess they were expecting. They're right on all three counts, but Rima doesn't want to be here, anyway. Rima would rather be almost anywhere else, but mostly she'd like to be back in Amu's flat in front of the TV she can't understand, or better yet, back in Japan, in her cozy apartment and air conditioning.

"Well then, I didn't meant to 'startle' you," the man says, and his smile is so very wide and blinding that Rima has to blink to clear her eyes. It's worse than the Queen's jewels, but Rima doesn't sneeze, thank god "I have very much wanted to meet you. I didn't expect to find you alone, but I'm glad I did"

Rima's first thought is that boy the man is tall. Her second thought is that, for the first time in days, she understands what someone who isn't Amu is saying to her.

"You speak Japanese!" she stands up as she says it, but it doesn't help, because the man still towers above her like a tree.

"My mother was Japanese," the man says "So I grew up speaking it."

"I'm so glad there's finally someone to talk to," Rima says, relief spilling out of her "No one has been cruel, but—"

It's easy to be nice when you don't have to say anything, though, and Rima wouldn't describe anyone beyond her bodyguard and possibly Ikuto as nice. She sighs "Everyone stares but no one says anything, though I'm pretty much sure their thoughts are written in their faces" Rima's skin feels like it hasn't been fitting over her body right since she got to the palace.

"I'm Nagihiko," the man says. "And you're Mashiro Rima, right?" He makes a short bow, not as low as people have been bowing to her all week, but low enough that Rima scrambles to return it equally.

"That's right," Rima says "Nagihiko" A nice Japanese name and Rima savors how easy it is to say, smiling up Nagihiko as she does so "Just Nagihiko?"

"Just Nagihiko," he replies.

Nagihiko is almost as tall as Ikuto, but not nearly as stiff. Rima finds him easier to stand in front of, too. Rima is no timid shrinking flower, but something about Ikuto makes Rima feel like she's supposed to impress him. She's just met Nagihiko, but Nagihiko, for some reason, seems more comfortable.

"It's nice to meet you," Rima says formally.

"Don't go formal on me," Nagihiko says "I preferred your pretty smile"

Rima feels a gush of embarrassment "What?" Nagihiko is still looking down at her, amused, and if anyone has a pretty smile here, it's Nagihiko "You must be confused by all the makeup."

Nagihiko laughs at her, and reaches out to touch Rima, and Rima jumps at the motion, trying to back up, but ends up tripping on her long gown thing and stumbling. Nagihiko grabs her arm to steady her.

"Sorry," Nagihiko says "Personal space is hard for me. I forget that not everyone likes to be touched."

"I wasn't expecting it," Rima says "It's not that I don't like to be touched, it's that no one touches me, here. My friends at home touch me all the time" Nagihiko looks at her carefully, his headphones slipping lower on his neck. His eyes are like amber, and his hair really was abnormally long "Why are you staring at me?"

"I was right about your smile," Nagihiko says "Definitely pretty"

"It's not" Rima says.

Nagihiko lets go of her, stepping away, and Rima's insides are herding at her. Her face feels red, so red, and not from the heat. She may have to reconsider her whole idea about Nagihiko being comfortable.

"I never said..." Nagihiko says, waving his hands in front of her "You just had a pretty smile, okay?"

He reaches up and rubs ineffectually at her hair, and the bits at the crown of her head stick up, causing her mini tiara to slant "I seem to have ruined your dumplings, too." He frowns. His full lower lip sticks out and if this were Kukai, Rima would grab it and pull it until he screamed "Can I make it up to you by teaching you one way to sneak into the kitchens?"

"I'd like that," Rima says, and the tension eases out of her "But what about, uh, my green, tall, shadow?" Rima pulls at the neck of her robes. She feels like a popsicle, slowly melting underneath them. Nagihiko looks her up and down in sympathy, which also has Rima blushing "I don't think I'm allowed to go anywhere without him"

"Of course you are," Nagihiko says "At least here in the palace. Kairi's probably just worried about you" Nagihiko laughs "He's overprotective with the people he likes. You just have to let him know you'll be okay. He left you alone today, didn't he?"

"Kairi?" Rima files the name away for later. "It would be easier if I could talk to him"

"I can let him know you're with me. He might not like not coming along, but he won't really mind" Nagihiko starts to pat Rima's shoulder again, before remembering what had happened the last time "I'm sorry," he says "I can't help myself."

"It's okay," Rima says "I'll learn to expect it" Nagihiko's smile turns up a notch. Rima is going to get hot all over again from it.

"In exchange, I'll teach you a few things to say to Kairi," Nagihiko says. He grabs Rima's sleeve, pulling her away from the table and the spilled dumplings.

"He understands me, a little," Rima says, staring at the hand for a moment before taking it. Nagihiko's skin is soft and warm. "Japanese, I mean."

"Most of the staff here understands a bit because of me" Nagihiko laughs "Not too much, because that would be unseemly, to speak another language other than the mothers tongue here in the palace, but enough."

Rima's stomach grumbles again, and Nagihiko laughs again too, rumbling and loud. He lets go of Rima's sleeve and Rima immediately feels the loss. "How about that snack?" he asks, and Rima nods enthusiastically and then has to quickly reach up and steady her headpiece. "Follow me."

"Shouldn't we clean…?"

"If you have to wear the gown and do all the hard bits," Nagihiko says, "the least you can do is enjoy the fact that being royal comes with certain benefits."

"Who are you?" Rima blurts out, and Nagihiko looks at her, surprise making his eyes even bigger, his mouth parts in surprise, and he looks really young when he does that.

"Just Nagihiko," he answers, winking, and even as her stomach does a flip, Rima thinks things here at the palace have gotten just a little bit better.

#

In the morning, Rima wakes up to Kairi's face close enough to her own that she can smell his aftershave "_Good morning_?" Rima says, in tentative English, and Kairi's face lights up with excitement.

"Good morning," he says back, in Japanese "Yesterday… Did you have fun?" his tongue curls funny around the past tense, and Rima wonders if she sounds that odd in English to Kairi. She doesn't doubt it.

"_Yes_," she says, and Kairi looks so excited that Rima maybe should have waited a little longer before taking Nagihiko's advice "Very fun," she adds in Japanese, and Kairi pulls on her arm so hard Rima can almost feel it come out of the socket.

"Hurry," he says, and then something else in English that Rima doesn't catch.

Rima's shocked when she walks out of her room and finds Nagihiko there, leaning against the wooden walls wearing a suit "Took you long enough," Nagihiko says, and Rima, who had been sort of dreading some formal event, feels her whole face break into a grin.

"Do you have any idea how long it takes to get dressed like this?" Rima says "I thought I took a long time before"

"I might have an idea," Nagihiko says "Do you want to see something cool?"

He looks back at Kairi in askance, and Kairi nods in response. "Go," he says, before glaring at Nagihiko "Safe"

"I'm always safe," Nagihiko mumbles "Not always the most graceful, but safe."

"Should I be worried?" Rima says, and she barely reacts this time when Nagihiko latches onto her. "Are you going to get me injured?"

"Not unless I want Kairi to have my head on a plate," Nagihiko replies "It won't be too dangerous for you, Rapunzel."

Rima doesn't hesitate to slap Nagihiko's arm, and Nagihiko gives her a shocked look before his face crinkles up into something significantly less handsome.

"You're feisty," Nagihiko says "Our crown prince has his hands full with you"

Rima side-eyed Nagihiko. "I doubt it," she says "He's got rather large hands."

Nagihiko laughs and it rings down the hallway. "Come along, Mashiro Rima" He winks "Let me show you around" He doesn't relinquish Rima's arm, but that's alright.

"You can't tell anyone about this," Nagihiko warns her, after they've gone through what feels like an endless maze of hallways and made an uncountable number of turns "It's an absolute secret" He moves away from Rima, and on instinct Rima moves too. She's not some character in an old rpg, she reminds herself. She doesn't have to make every move the party leader makes.

"Who am I going to tell?" Rima asks, to cover her thwarted movement. "More importantly, how am I going to tell them?"

"Good point," Nagihiko says, and he pulls aside a tapestry to reveal a section of the wall that's a slightly different color "Then I guess my secret's safe with you."

Rima walks up behind Nagihiko as he pushes on the door, watching in amazement as it slides to the side. She bumps into Nagihiko's back, her chest pressing into the blazer, and she rapidly jerks back "Sorry."

"No big deal," Nagihiko says, throwing an easy smile over his shoulder. "Let's go?"

"Where does it lead?" Rima asks.

"It's a surprise" Nagihiko says. "Do you like surprises?"

"Not especially," Rima replies, and Nagihiko makes a sad, pouty face at her that has her backpedalling "But I'll make an exception for you, just this once."

"Excellent," Nagihiko says, and Rima is right behind him as they enter the tunnel. It's dank and dark, but still clean, and Nagihiko keeps her close. Rima's cheek occasionally brushes the expensive fabric of Nagihiko's suit jacket "If we see any bugs, you may have to protect me," he says. "I really hate them."

"Then why are we here?"

"There's an old legend about my family," Nagihiko says, and Rima groan "What?"

"The last old legend about your family got me into this," Rima explains "I'm a bit wary of the next one."

Nagihiko's smile is visible even in the dark tunnel. Rima should inquire about his toothpaste brand "This one's a little less magical and a little more hertorical," Nagihiko reassures her

"Once upon a time, when a great King's wife died, he thought he would never fall in love again."

"How sad," Rima says, but Nagihiko shushes her with one finger to her lips, leaving Rima's mouth tingling when it disappears.

"But the King was wrong," Nagihiko says "He did fall in love again, with a foreign beauty who was sweet and kind and loved the water."

They're nearing the end of the tunnel now. He can tell by the way it gets narrower, can how Nagihiko starts to slow down. "Then?"

"He brought his new love to the palace, expecting everyone to love her, but because she was from another kingdom, she had trouble fitting in."

"Like me," Rima says, and Nagihiko stops, causing Rima to bump into her again.

"Yeah," Nagihiko says, reaching behind to grab Rima's wrist without a second thought. Rima might like that; the ease with which Nagihiko reaches for her, his hands aren't as big as Ikuto', and they're a tad more graceful "Like you."

"Did she want to go home?"

Nagihiko pushes lightly against what Rima had though was a wall, and it clicks, and falls open, revealing the outdoors "She wanted to go home, but she loved the Emperor as much as he loved her," Nagihiko says. "So she stayed."

"It's beautiful," Rima says, following Nagihiko into a garden unlike any of the others she's seen so far. It's overgrown, with weeds pushing up in between the flowers, but the pond more than makes up for it, surrounded by soft lush grass that seems to be surviving the American summer.

"The King built his foreign Queen a beautiful garden just for her, that she could care for and spend time in, away from everyone else while he was away on official business" Nagihiko pulls Rima toward a metal bench next to the pond "She would be the only one besides the builder to know the location of the door."

"That's really romantic," Rima says. "What happened to her?"

"She died," Nagihiko says "Don't make that sad face, it's just a story"

"My whole life is built around stories," Rima says. She sits down on the metal bench. It's long enough to sit with space between them, but Nagihiko doesn't seem to notice, sitting right next to Rima. His suit jacket pulls across his broad shoulders "I read books. It doesn't matter much in here"

"Why wouldn't it matter?" Nagihiko has his head resting in between both of his hands, and he's looking over at Rima curiously. "You can still write here, right?"

"I don't know," Rima says "What's there to read about when you're not allowed to do anything?" She looks at the pond, watching the tiny silver fish she's just now noticing flutter back and forth underneath the clear surface. "I don't have my laptop. I'm not allowed to see my friend. I'm just… here, and no one wants me here"

"I thought you might feel that way," Nagihiko says. "That's why I showed you this garden."

"Huh?"

"Any time you want to escape, you can come here." He laughs, more quietly than Rima's ever heard him laugh before. "I'll share this place with you." He rubs at his neck, messing some hair at his neck. "I'll see what I can do to make things better for you, Rima."

"Thank you, Nagihiko," Rima says, invading Nagihiko's personal space for the first time to fix the hair at his neck where he'd ruined it. Nagihiko's skin is hot beneath her touch, from the summer sun. It's not even afternoon yet, still morning, and the heat is already setting in, sun blazing overhead relentlessly. "But I don't think anyone can make a fairytale out of this"

He looks into Nagihiko's eyes, and he's looking back at Rima so steadily that it makes Rima shiver despite the heat.

"The crown prince is a good man," Nagihiko says. "You couldn't have gotten accidentally engaged to a nicer one."

"If you say so," Rima says.

"I do," Nagihiko says firmly. "He's the best person I know" Nagihiko smiles again. "Anyone would be lucky to have someone that great."

* * *

**Waah I had a review! Finally! xD Thank you for the compliment, I'll try my best!**


	5. Chapter 5: Those Lovely Hands

**I don't own Shugo Chara! nor Frog Prince**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Those Lovely Hands**

Rima returns to her room after dinner ready to sleep.

Dinner had been a disaster; Rima dropped food on the floor at least twice because someone asked her a question out of the blue, and Ikuto staunchly refused to look anywhere but at his plate unless Rima discreetly prodded him to ask a question about manners. Ikuto was always polite and always helpful, but Rima could clearly feel the distance between them. It could be a long lifetime with that kind of silence. Rima hadn't wanted to consider that.

"I can't wait to go to bed," Rima says to herself as she pushes into her room, holding out her arms and letting one of her servants start to take the bracelets off her wrists.

"Do you think you could hold out a little longer?"

Sitting on Rima's bed is Amu. She's wearing her work clothes; her skirt slightly wrinkled from a long day of wear, and her button up was unbuttoned on top mildly exposing her nape.

"You're here!" Rima says "How are you here?"

"I don't know what you said, but suddenly I was being invited back here so fast I got burn marks on my feet"

"Ikuto said you weren't…" Rima scrunched her face "I didn't think you wanted to come, anyway. You've been strange, when I called"

"It's complicated," Amu said "But I'm getting over it" She bounces up from Rima's bed, leaving the covers a wreck, and gives Rima a hug, slapped her back hard enough that Rima is winded, then Amu lets go "You look alive."

"I noticed you didn't say 'well'"

"You look like a miserable little kid at an adult's birthday party," Amu says honestly "You've got that prissy look on your face like someone told you couldn't have any of the cake because it's only for the older people."

"How long can you stay?" Rima asks, and Amu grins.

"I have a few hours before I have to leave," she says "Oh, and before I forget—" She leans down and picks up a familiar bag from the floor "I had your Utau drop by your flat and overnight this to me. Your parents, by the way, are-"

"So tripped out," Rima says "I talked to them a couple of days ago and they still think Ikuto and I tried to elope or something. As if."

"It is a little farfetched," Amu says "The whole 'I kissed an animal and it turned into a really attractive man' thing."

It really is "Is that really my laptop?"

"It is really your laptop," Amu confirms "You can try to write all about the time you kissed a frog and it became my liar of a friend. Become a writer"

"Hey Amu," Rima asks, with a moment of insight, sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking up at Amu until she slumps down next to her, kicking her legs out in front of her and avoiding Rima's stare. "A friend or _a friend_?"

"A friend," Amu says, after considering quite a while "That I might have liked to be _a friend_"

"It looks like both our fairytales got all messed up, doesn't it?" Rima asks, leaning into Amu and wishing she could go back in time and put her vacation off a good couple of months "I should have come in October," she says.

"The weather's nice then," Amu agrees, and Rima thinks about her flat.

#

Breakfast with Ikuto the next morning is less frosty than their first breakfast, if only because Rima is in a better mood.

"You seem happy," Ikuto says "I've never seen you smile before. It's nice." Rima waits for the embarrassment that surges in her when Nagihiko had complimented her smile, but there's nothing but the pleasant satisfaction of being complimented again.

"Amu came to see me," Rima says "And she brought my laptop" Rima takes a bite of rice. It's hot and burns the roof of her mouth, but she doesn't spit it out because she's made enough bad impressions about her eating abilities "Was that your idea?"

"You'll have to thank my brother for that, actually," Ikuto says "Nathan. You haven't met him yet but the King wants him to come to dinner tonight so you'll meet him then" Ikuto exhales "He said you must be lonely… And bored… And that you would want some contact outside and your belongings"

"I didn't know you had a brother," Rima says "I'll thank him as soon as I meet him"

"Half-brother," Ikuto says "We have different mothers."

"Which one of your mothers is the Queen?" Rima asks, and Ikuto raises his brow in surprise.

"You really know nothing about the Royal family," he says "Amu said that you didn't know a thing and I didn't really believe her"

"I have other interests," Rima says.

"I'll see if I can find you an instructor," Ikuto says "You need to know, if you're going to rule by my side" He sets his chopsticks down "Neither of our mothers is the Queen. She is my father's third wife."

"Where does your brother live?"

"In the palace," Ikuto says "You will like him" Ikuto hesitates "He's like you."

"Like me?"

"He can't leave, like you, I mean"

"Why can't he leave?" Rima asks, and Ikuto doesn't answer.

"You'll see" Ikuto' long fingers tap indistinct patterns into their table "Dinner will be…" Ikuto searches for a word. His Japanese is not good or bad, but they don't talk enough for Rima to see him trying this hard very often "Tense. Dinner will be tense tonight."

"It's always tense," Rima says. It's nothing like dinners at her house, with Yaya screaming for desserts before the main dish and Kukai and Utau stealing from each other's plate. Tadase was just plain calm like her and Rima taking advantage of it to place her peas on his plate.

"More tense," Ikuto says, and just like that, Rima's good cheer evaporates just like the morning dew under the hot sun.

#

"What's with the face?" Nagihiko says when he finds Rima in the garden Nagihiko had shown her "Kairi said you'd asked to be left alone"

"More like made wild hand gestures at him until he shooed me off saying 'okay, okay' in English," Rima says, and Nagihiko laughs, collapsing next to Rima on the metal bench "I almost felt bad about how emphatic I was. How'd you know I'd be here?"

"I didn't," Nagihiko says "But I hoped you might have taken me up on my offer"

"How'd you get past all the scary bugs?" Rima asks, and Nagihiko makes a disgruntled frown "I saw at least three spiders, for sure."

"Don't tell me that," Nagihiko says, "or I'll never make it back inside."

"Staying out here forever seems tempting, doesn't it?" He wipes at his face "Maybe not."

"It's better as the year passes. It'll start to get cooler in September."

"My wedding is in September," Rima says. "I don't want to be here then."

"I can understand that." Nagihiko nudges her with his elbow, and Rima stares at the water "Is that the only thing that has got you down?"

"Do you know what the consequences are?"

"The consequences for what?" Nagihiko is dressed down again today, Rima sees. Just a pair of black pants and a white button down. Rima wonders what Nagihiko does when he's not with Rima.

"Breaking a magical contract," Rima says, and Nagihiko sucks in his breath through his teeth.

"I don't know," he says, undoing a few buttons of his shirt "It's been a long time since this has happened."

"A long time?"

"A few hundred years," Nagihiko says "We'd all started to think it wasn't real. Then, the crown prince pushed his luck and…" He reaches for the cuffs of his shirt, trying to unbutton those, too, but his fingers are too big and the buttons are too small.

"Push his luck?" Rima reaches out and grabs Nagihiko's arm, pulling it into her lap. Then she easily undoes the two buttons at Nagihiko's wrist. She peeks up at Nagihiko through her eyelashes and Nagihiko is staring down at Rima's hands. They look so small in comparison to Nagihiko; the fingers slim where Nagihiko's are wide, and the nails long and smooth where Nagihiko's are blunt and a bit square. She rolls the sleeve up three times, until it's at his elbow, and Nagihiko's adam's apple bobs up and down. Rima's own heart is racing, just a little "Other arm," she says, and Nagihiko obeys, taking a surprisingly shaky breath.

"I thought…" Nagihiko seems distracted, his eyes still watching Rima help him with his shirt, and Rima finishes but doesn't let go, her hands staying there in the dip of Nagihiko's arm "We all thought he liked someone. But when his birthday passed by, and nothing happened, we figured the curse must not be real anymore. Like it had worn off. But then, out of nowhere, in June..." Nagihiko coughs.

"Are you okay?" Rima asks, cuffing the second sleeve, and she looks up to Nagihiko's red face staring down at her "We should go inside, if you're that hot" Rima is that hot, too. She's boiling in all these robes, and she can feel the back of her neck burning. Rima wishes she was in a pair of boxer shorts and a thin camisole. Her hair would be up into a messy bun and she would be throwing ice cram on her face messily with Amu.

"Your hands," Nagihiko says, his eyes looking anywhere but at Rima "They're lovely"

"You're always complimenting me," Rima says, and now her insides are as hot as her outsides, blood rushing hot up to her cheeks.

"There's so much to compliment," Nagihiko says, freeing his arm from Rima's gentle hold "Your fingers were tickling me"

"I was just trying to help," Rima says "You've helped me so much already"

"I haven't done anything," Nagihiko says "Except charm your socks off, right?"

"You gave me this," Rima says, one arm extended to indicate the pond "And you talk to me, Listen to me" Rima's hair feels gross, and her skin does too "Even if I can't figure out how to break the magical contract, I'll still have you, right?"

"You will," Nagihiko says "I'll be your friend here, Rima" Nagihiko stands up. "Don't you need to get ready for dinner?"

"I do," Rima says. She doesn't want to leave the garden. More than that, she doesn't want to leave Nagihiko. Nagihiko feels like a safe space in the midst of all the places she has to watch her every move, even more so than this garden.

They get to the door, and Nagihiko winks at Rima, that weird twitchy movement that Rima shouldn't find cute but that she totally does "Can you go first?"

"Why?" Rima asks suspiciously, and Nagihiko gives her a sheepish grin.

"You said there were spiders," he whispers, and Rima laughs, openly, and feels completely free "Protect me, Rapunzel"

"Don't worry," Rima says, still laughing "I'll look out for you."

It's the least she can do.

#

Rima walks into dinner not sure what to expect. Ikuto is in his usual seat, and the Queen sits across from her, her frown present as always when she looks up to see Rima. The King looks tired.

"Marie," Ikuto says, in greeting, and Rima bows the way Kairi has tried to teach her, curling forward enough to be respectful but not far enough to lose her headpiece, which falls no matter how carefully her servants try hard to fasten it.

The Queen says something harshly to Ikuto, her back straight as a board, and Rima can already feel terror at how horrible this dinner is going to be.

"I'm here," say a voice behind her in English, and Rima knows that voice belongs to Nagihiko. She doesn't turn around to confirm it. Instead, she walks straight ahead, taking her seat next to Ikuto.

Nagihiko walks down on the opposite side of the table and took a seat next to the Queen. The King clears his throat, signaling for service. Dishes come streaming out into the room, filling the table with more food than even Kukai could possibly eat, and Rima stares at Nagihiko.

"This is my younger brother Nathan," Ikuto says "He speaks Japanese"

"We've met," Nagihiko says, searching Rima's purposefully vacant expression for some clue as to whether Rima is mad at him or not "Haven't we?"

"Really?" Ikuto leans forward "At breakfast this morning, Rima said she didn't know I had a brother." Ikuto' Japanese is remarkably slow in the face of Nagihiko's fluency, but she appreciates the effort so much that she smiles at Ikuto in thanks.

Ikuto smiles back at her, surprised, and she really is handsome when she smiles.

"You have breakfast together in the morning?" Nagihiko asks, and Rima looks back to her "I didn't know that"

"We are getting married," Ikuto says "We should get to know each other"

"That's right," Nagihiko says "You should" Rima takes the opportunity to look, really look, at Nagihiko dressed in her formal princely clothes like Ikuto. A navy blue coat with golden buttons was what she noticed so far. At least she tries, but she keeps going back to Nagihiko's eyes, which gleam in the room's brilliant bright lighting.

"I wasn't lying," Rima says, implying with her voice that she's not like either of them, who seem to have constant identity crises. "I didn't know that… Nathan…" It doesn't sound right, but Rima knows, instinctually, that Nagihiko is not what she should call him here, "was your brother."

"I need to find her a tutor," Ikuto says. The Queen is staring at them with disdain, and Rima knows it's because they're all speaking Japanese at the King's table. The King ignores them, whispering back and forth with a harried looking man in a suit with a tablet PC.

"I'll do it," Nagihiko says, and Ikuto' eyebrows shoot together like he's eaten bad shellfish. "It's not a problem."

"We should find her someone…"

"With more free time?" Nagihiko laughs, and Rima's surprised at how unhappy it sounds "There's no one with more free time than I have, Sky"

"You have classes—"

"I'm not going to rule, Sky, you are" Nagihiko's eyes are harder to read on the table. Rima doesn't think that makes much sense, but it's true.

"If something happens to me…"

Nagihiko grins, fierce and controlled. He's smiling like Rima had smiled for her high school photo, right after she'd found out she'd been rejected for her first choice school "I still won't rule," Nagihiko says "Do you really think they'd let me?"

Ikuto looks at the Queen, and then back at Nagihiko "I trust you with this, then," he says.

"You can," Nagihiko says "You know I'm trustworthy."

"I would trust you with anything, Nate," Ikuto says, and Nagihiko's smile goes from hard to soft, and Rima can see how much he loves his brother, right then and there.

Rima looks down at her food, and wonders if she'll ever be able to love Ikuto as much as Nagihiko does. She hopes, for both their sakes that she can.

#

"Why didn't you tell me Nagihiko was a prince?" Rima asks Kairi, and Kairi looks at her guiltily "Don't make that face at me."

Kairi pats Rima's head, and Rima scowls up at him "Smiling," Kairi says. "Marie, with Nathan, is smiling."

"Oh," Rima says, and she doesn't know why Kairi looks so upset.

"Good night," Kairi says, leaving Rima alone in her room, and Rima stays awake for several hours afterwards, contemplating the family she's about to join.

* * *

**Cookie: Updated xD I was suppose to post this yesterday like I had promised but... yeah.**

**Rima: She got too lazy**

**Cookie: Shut up, go flirt with Nagihiko**

**Rima: Shut up! I will never flirt with Nagi-baka!**


	6. Chapter 6: Just As Lonely

**Trust me when I say it gets worse. I love you guys! Don't be mad at me!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Just as Lonely **

Their first lesson takes place in a part of the palace Rima has never been to before. Kairi leads her there after a short breakfast alone, and she finds Nagihiko curled up in a leather chair with a book open in his lap. His hair falling everywhere in his face and Rima tries to reconcile this soft-faced man with the mature one who'd sat across from at dinner last night.

"Good morning," Rima says and Nagihiko jumps, book tumbling from his lap and falling to the library floor "I didn't mean to scare you"

"You didn't scare me," Nagihiko says, using his first finger to slide his hair back "You startled me."

"Then sorry for startling you," Rima says.

"Are you mad at me?" Nagihiko asks, and Rima frowns thoughtfully.

"I considered being mad at you," Rima says, "but then I realized you've never really lied to me, but—" she points at Nagihiko "Do not, not tell me things again"

"I really wanted to meet you," Nagihiko says "It was easier to do that if you didn't know I was Ikuto's brother."

"What if I'd said all sorts of bad things about him?" Rima asks.

"Then I'd know you still had a lot to learn," Nagihiko replies. He climbs out of the chair, long limbs unfolding, and walks over to a great oak table in the center of the library "Speaking of learning, do you want to start with the family tree, the dynasty history, or both?"

"Both sound so enticing," Rima says "How about option C? Where I draw pictures of clowns on these really expensive books"

"Are you a good artist?" Nagihiko asks.

"Not at all," Rima says.

"Only a good writer, then," Nagihiko says to himself, and Rima's cheeks redden.

"No," she says "I'm not any good there, either."

"Didn't you say you write?" He has a few books out, and Rima sighs in relief to see that some of them, at least, are in Japanese, with pictures.

"That doesn't mean I'm good at it" Rima walks over to Nagihiko, stopping when she gets close enough that she can see the books Nagihiko has picked out "You don't have to be good at something to do it."

"You just have to love it," Nagihiko says, and Rima nods.

"I try to write after I finish a book. I've opened my laptop a few times while I've been here, but..." All she can write about so far is, well, Nagihiko, and Rima doesn't know if she can make a whole story out of a man that makes her smile. "I'm a good editor, maybe, though," Rima says. It's easy to see what's wrong with other people's stories.

"All those fantasy books," Nagihiko says "Can you handle history, you think?"

"Your royal history seems more like fantasy to me" Rima said as Nagihiko pulls out a chair and Rima pulls out the one next to it.

"There's only a little bit of magic," Nagihiko says, and Rima smiles.

"Should I believe you?" Rima says.

"Why don't I lay out all the facts, and we can discuss it" Nagihiko's arm brushes Rima's as he opens the first book.

"Sounds good," Rima says, leaning forward "The Revolution? I studied that in grade school" she had hated it.

"Good," Nagihiko says "Then tell me how we got to a parliamentary government with a King and a separate law-making body from a straight-up monarchy"

Rima jostles in her chair "With a revolution?" Nagihiko laughs and Rima smiles at him cheekily.

"Well, it's a start," Nagihiko says "But really, it kind of happened like this…"

Nagihiko gets excited, telling Rima about obscure things that Rima will never remember, but Rima never gets bored, because Nagihiko's face is animated as he speaks. His smile keeps making Rima forget to pay attention though, so when Nagihiko stops to ask if she's listened, Rima has to comb back through her mind for what they were just talking about.

"I think that's enough for today," Nagihiko says, finally "You look like I've overload your circuits."

"If there were a quiz on this tomorrow," Rima says, "I would get a seventy percent."

Nagihiko frowns "Only a seventy?"

"I made it through school barely scraping fifties, Nagihiko. You should consider this an accomplishment."

"I'll take it, then" Rima notices that they've moved closer to each other as Nagihiko's breathe blows on her ear. Rima shivers, and focuses on the lessons Nagihiko is supposed to teach.

#

After they study, Nagihiko shows her another secret hallway, guiding her from the library to the kitchen he'd shown Rima on the day they first met "These aren't exactly 'royal' things to do, Rima," Nagihiko says, "so don't tell anyone I taught you how to get dumplings in the middle of the night if you're caught."

Rima shoves a dumpling into Nagihiko's mouth, and Nagihiko licks at Rima's fingers in revenge. Rima jerks her hand away quickly, hiding it in the sleeve of her robe, and looks at Nagihiko through her eyelashes. "Are you always breaking rules?"

"Not really," Nagihiko says "But I'm not Ikuto, so no one expects that much from me"

"There's a 'but' in there," Rima says, and Nagihiko laughs.

"I bend the rules more than break them," Nagihiko says, pulling a dumpling apart so he can pick out the parts he likes best. Rima loves the way his hands are so large but his fingers are so careful "We always have to wear formal clothes around the palace, for example."

"When I met you, you were wearing jeans," Rima says "And then we went around the palace."

"Ah ah ah," Nagihiko says "We went under the palace"

"That's flimsy and you know it," Rima says.

"I have to get my thrills somewhere," Nagihiko says, and Rima can get that.

"I have to wear these gowns until the ceremony," Rima says morosely "As an announcement of status change"

"I had to wear them every day until my twenty-first birthday," Nagihiko says "I know what it's like."

"Ikuto said you can't leave the palace, like me" Rima grabs another dumpling, just putting the whole thing in her mouth. She chews it with her mouth open, because no one but Nagihiko is here to judge her and Nagihiko's knee bumps hers beneath the table.

"That's so nasty," he says "The most uncute thing I've ever seen you do" His hair falls again when he leans forward and he cracks a dumpling with his face too close to the plate, and Rima purposefully exaggerates her chewing until Nagihiko puts three fingers under her jaw and pushes up to shut her mouth "I can leave the palace, but only with a full escort. They're willing to do that for Ikuto, but not for me. It's not as politically useful to have me be seen in public."

"Because you're the second oldest?"

"Well," Nagihiko says, "you probably realize it's more complicated than that" Nagihiko sighs "But because of that, it's easier for me to get some of the things I want."

"Like Amu coming to visit me?" Rima asks, softly, so Nagihiko can feign that he didn't hear it if he wants to.

"Like that," Nagihiko says, his grin so wide his face looks like a cartoon. Rima doesn't know why she likes Nagihiko's smile so much, when it's so _very _much.

"Why are you doing so much for me?" Rima asks, and Nagihiko wipes his hands on a napkin and looks at the table.

"Because you're Ikuto's bride," Nagihiko says "I want you to be happy here. I want you and Ikuto to be happy, because Ikuto is my big brother"

"I see," Rima says "I'll do my best"

"I know," Nagihiko says "I could tell from the beginning that you were feisty. Feisty people don't just give up."

"You don't know me," Rima challenges.

"I know you well enough to realize that you're not just the person lucky enough to get Ikuto," Nagihiko says, pushing his plate away.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ikuto is also the person lucky enough to get you," Nagihiko says, and Rima kicks at him under the table because she's blushing and she hates it "He should watch out for his shins, though."

"No, that's just you," Rima says, and pushes her plate away too.

#

"Is Nagihiko a good teacher?" Ikuto asks, and Rima blows her blond bangs, it's grown out too long from her eyes.

"He is," Rima says, and Ikuto looks surprised, but pleased.

"Nagihiko is the best part of the palace, for me," Ikuto says "We're the people that look out for each other, here."

"I'm glad you have each other," Rima says, and she's treated to one of Ikuto's sincere smiles.

"Me too," Ikuto says, and Rima can see, in that instant, how someone could fall in love with Ikuto.

She takes a huge bite of rice, and swallows down those thoughts along with the grains of it.

#

She searches for Nagihiko after breakfast. He's in the main gardens, whispering back and forth with a servant. He smiles over at Rima and Rima goes hot beneath her face at the way that smile seems reserved only for her.

"You sure spend a lot of time outside," Rima says, and Nagihiko pokes her cheek.

"So do you," he says "For someone who's constantly complaining about the weather, you sure subject yourself to it fairly often"

"You're out here," Rima says, and covers her embarrassment with a frown "That's the only attraction aside from the more resilient flowers"

"Are you melting from me or the heat?" Nagihiko says, grinning down on her. Rima's heart thuds steadily away at the fast tempo that's become commonplace when dealing with Nagihiko.

"I wish I could take off all these layers of cloth," Rima says, and Nagihiko's cheeks darken.

"That would be inappropriate," Nagihiko says "I'm your brother-in-law."

"Not like what you're thinking and not yet," Rima says, after a beat too long of silence, and Nagihiko's eyes land on a patch of wilting flowers in the left-hand plot of the garden "Those need to be watered, don't they?"

"Just like you do," Nagihiko says "Poor Rima, so sensitive. We should head in to study."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Rima replies, but even when they walk into the air conditioning, with Nagihiko's arm still firmly over her dainty shoulders, Rima still feels kind of hot.

#

They have some sort of lesson every day. Nagihiko meets her in the library, and sometimes in the garden if it's a cooler day, and life falls into a routine that makes a month pass faster than Rima had ever thought it could.

And in between conversations about Nagihiko's dream of exploring the world and Rima's love of clowns and comedy, Rima realizes something about her perspective on the palace is changing.

It's not Ikuto, who Rima likes more than she'd thought he would despite how difficult he makes conversations by talking around all the things he wants to say. It's not Kairi, who wakes Rima up in the morning with an English word of the day that she's supposed to learn and follows Rima around doing his best to seem menacing when people look at Rima with disdain. It's not even the Queen, who has thawed enough now that she doesn't bother to glare at Rima across the dinner table when she makes a mistake with her chopsticks. She makes fewer mistakes now, though, because she's learning.

It's Nagihiko who makes all the difference; who has made all the difference since Rima met him on that day in the main gardens, and decorated the grass with all her dumplings at the sound of Nagihiko's voice.

"Can I tell you something?" Nagihiko says one day in the library, as Rima sets down her pen, hand aching from copying so many characters she hasn't thought about since junior school.

"Sure?" Rima gulps, her throat inexorably dry, and can't figure out why she's so hot, even in the cool and air-conditioned library.

"Even if it's selfish," Nagihiko says, his thigh hot against Rima's, even through layers and layers of fabric, "I'm glad you're here"

Rima stares at Nagihiko, and for the first time, she really sees past Nagihiko's carefree grin and confident posture. Nagihiko, she thinks, is just as lonely in the palace as she is.

It makes Rima want to hug him. Both of them are infinitely less lonely together. "I'm so thankful you're here," Rima says, and she carefully leans her head on Nagihiko's shoulder. Nagihiko's arm easily comes up around her shoulders, pulling her into his side, and it's comforting. Nagihiko is comforting, and warm, and Rima doesn't dream longingly about Japan when Nagihiko is next to her "I probably would have lost it without you."

"You would have made it," Nagihiko says "You seem kind of tough." He laughs "Are you tough, Rima?" He's joking, and Rima pinches his thigh for the sarcasm.

"Tougher than you," she says, as Nagihiko begs for mercy "I was a Judo champ in college."

"Vicious," Nagihiko says, using his free hand to rub at his thigh. He doesn't let go of Rima even once, and it makes Rima feel gooey inside, like a melting marshmallow. "We should probably head to our rooms. It's almost dinner, and you'll be expected there."

"I wish I didn't have to go," Rima says "I'd rather hang out with you."

"I'd rather you hung out with me too," Nagihiko says, and when he smiles down at Rima, Rima can see his dimple and the brightness of his eyes. All of a sudden, she wants to…

She jolts back at the thought, and her heart hammers against her ribs. No, no, no, she thinks, and Nagihiko looks at her in confusion as she works her way free of Nagihiko's casual embrace.

"I should hurry," she says "I don't want to be late"

"No, you don't," Nagihiko says, and Rima hurries back toward her rooms alone, feeling Nagihiko's eyes on her back until he rounds a corner. Only then can Rima catch her breath.

#

Rima calls Amu that night, far later than she should. "I want to go home," she says. Amu laughs at her, not mocking, but sympathetic.

"You've always wanted to go home," Amu says. "What's different about today?"

The answer to that, Rima thinks, as she grabs massive handfuls of her pretty embroidered blankets and pulls them up over her head, her phone trapped between her cheek and her shoulder, is that yesterday, she didn't realize that she wanted to kiss Nagihiko, and today, she definitely does. "They tried to feed me cucumbers," Rima says, since she can't say the truth. Admitting it out loud is like giving in. You have to say 'surrender' during a Judo match when your opponent has got you on the mat.

"Ugh, Rima, you're marrying the most eligible bachelor in China and you're on the phone whining at me about cucumbers?" Amu swears into the phone, and Rima's gotten so used to no one doing that that it surprises her "I'd trade with you, if I could."

"If only," Rima says. She feels bad for Amu, and for Ikuto. She also feels sorry for herself, too, because she's gone and done the one thing that could make her even more miserable here: fall for the wrong prince.

* * *

**Cookie: How long from the previous update? 975312468 years! Sorry! I had first day problems in college, it's really frustrating that I don't have enough time to write.**

**Rima: She's also sorry that she made me so soppy and sweet and hormonal and a bird stuck inside a cage who wants nothing else but to kiss– nevermind.**

**Cookie: Okay!**


	7. Chapter 7: Breaking The Curse

**Chapter 7: Breaking The Curse**

Rima's parents are an unexpected but welcomed surprise. They arrive in the early afternoon, after a lesson with Nagihiko.

"I have a surprise for you," Nagihiko says, putting his large hands over Rima's eyes. "Will you trust me?"

"This once," Rima says, her heart beating triplicate the number of times it has to when she feels Nagihiko behind her, so tall and so warm.

They walk slowly through the hallways, Rima aware of every breath Nagihiko takes and every press of his wrists against Rima's cheeks. "Almost there," he says into Rima's ear, and Rima feels the heat in her stomach, rolling around like fire.

When Nagihiko moves his hands from Rima's eyes, it's her mother standing there, and Rima can't believe it until she swoops her up in a crushing hug.

"You wouldn't believe my shock," her mother says after a little while, "When I found out you really were marrying the crown prince"

"I'm don't have the habit of lying to you," Rima replies, and her mother gives her an arch expression "Except about your glass plates, but—"

"Is this what you want?" Her mother runs a hand along the silk of her gown, admiring the embroidery on the dress "I thought you wanted to write, Rima, or keep working your part-times with Tadase and Yaya, Is getting married really what you want?"

"No, it's not what I want," Rima says, and she narrows her eyes at her "I told you over the phone, that there was an element of… magic."

"You've always had your head in the clouds," her mother says. "I like him." She points to Nagihiko, who is making her father laugh with some story, his button up shirt making him look far less formal than Rima does. He must've noticed them staring, because he turns to them and waves, and Rima's rib cage collapses in on itself at having that smile turned on her full blast when she's least expecting it "You like him too."

"He's not my betrothed," Rima says, and her mother frowns "He's his younger brother"

"I see," Rima's mother says, and she rubs her back in small soothing circles "I'm sorry, Rima."

"Me too," Rima says.

Ikuto is perfectly polite to Rima's family, but so stiff and cordial that Rima's father clams up, and Nagihiko tries his best to ease things along but nothing gets better until Amu arrives, escorted by two guards.

Amu immediately takes charge of Rima's parents, poking and prodding at Ikuto until he opens up and smiles. After that, the afternoon goes more smoothly, Amu and Ikuto finding common ground over Violin while Rima's parents fall more and more in love with Nagihiko.

Rima's mother yawns and Nagihiko volunteers to show them to their rooms for the night. There's no reason for him to, because about thirty servants wait in the wings to attend Rima's parents' every need, but Nagihiko insists "I can tell you about the palace as we walk," he says. "And isn't it better if it's with someone who speaks Japanese?"

Rima, Amu, and Ikuto stand alone in the once busy small reception hall, then, and Amu looks down at her watch. "I should go."

"Why?" Rima asks.

"Some of us have work tomorrow," Amu says "And by some of us, I mean I have a part-time tomorrow."

"You're laughing," Rima says, "but Yuu won't let me quit my job."

"Won't let you quit?" Amu leans forward to push a piece of Rima's hair behind her ear "What's his reasoning?"

"I sent him a picture to prove I was marrying the crown prince of China and he told me cosplay wasn't a valid career choice. Yukari laughed"

Amu laughs, distorting her features, and Rima punches her lightly and Amu punches her back too hard. It feels like old times, like when Rima had gotten into Amu's car at the airport; in all these fabric, it feels like a lifetime ago.

"I wish you could stay," Ikuto says, quietly, and that's when Rima sees it; the way Ikuto stares a second too long at Amu's profile as Amu turns away, or the way he watches her go with a longing that Rima has seen before.

Rima and Ikuto stand in the hall in silence "You were waiting for Amu, weren't you?"

"My parents had picked someone out for me," Ikuto says "But then I met Amu" He looks down at his shoes. "It seemed so unreal when she didn't recognize me. She asked me for my name, and I gave her the one I used when I went to college overseas" Ikuto exhales "I should have told her the truth but… it was easier to spend time with her as a no one, even if I always had to disguise myself to go outside" Ikuto laughs then "I told her I was afraid of wrinkles."

"That part wasn't a lie, though," Rima says "Nagihiko told me you spend hours on your skin."

"Amu has tiny crow feet at the corners of her eyes sometimes," Ikuto says "I like her wrinkles."

"So when the curse hit…" Rima thinks back to the first time she'd seen that frog, outside Amu's flat window "You came to find Amu! You wanted Amu to break your curse!"

"That's it," Ikuto says "Only my plan backfired"

"And you ended up with me, instead"

"Yes, I did," Ikuto says "It's not the worst thing that could have happened. We can be happy together, Rima, if we try"

For the first time, Rima thinks they can "Do you need a hug?" Rima asks, and Ikuto looks at her like she's crazy.

"It's funny, because I don't think you and Nagihiko look anything alike except that you're both tall. But right now, you've got the same look on your face that he has on his when he's concerned about something" Rima shrugged

"Do I really?" Ikuto asks, and then he wraps his arms around Rima, dropping his head to Rima's shoulder. Rima nervously pats Ikuto's back and lets him rest there.

She looks over Ikuto' shoulder and she sees Nagihiko standing there, staring at them both. His eyes go from Rima's hand on Ikuto's back to Ikuto's head resting where Rima's neck meets her shoulder. Rima looks back at him, and Nagihiko's mouth twists in the mockery of a smile, and he nods.

"Good night," he mouths, and Rima wants to tell Nagihiko it's not what he thinks, but she doesn't know what Nagihiko thinks, and besides, Nagihiko is gone, leaving two people who don't love each other in the hall, clinging to each other as the evening ticks on.

#

Rima's parents leave after three days "We'll be back for your wedding, sweetheart," her mother says, and Rima doesn't beg her not to go because she doesn't want to look weak now.

In those three days, Rima didn't see Nagihiko at all. She misses him. She hopes Nagihiko misses her too.

"I meant what I said," Ikuto tells Rima, as the doors close behind Rima's family, leaving Rima still trapped behind pretty walls "We can make each other happy"

"Can we?" Rima asks, staring at Ikuto, who is stiff and polite and soft-hearted and kind, and doesn't ever make Rima laugh or lean into Rima's personal space or create piles and piles of butterflies in Rima's stomach.

Ikuto is a total catch; tall, handsome, and a prince.

But Ikuto probably won't ever be responsible for Rima's rapid heartbeat, like Nagihiko is without even trying.

There's no way Rima can marry him. After all, Nagihiko is also a total catch; tall, handsome, and a prince.

#

"I need to find out what happens if I break the magical contract," Rima says, interrupting Nagihiko mid-lecture.

Nagihiko is so surprised he actually meets Rima's eyes for the first time in days, and Rima can feel triumph mingling with her determination.

She'd thought about it carefully the past couple of days, spending most of her time wandering the palace halls with Kairi because it was too hot to go outside, the air thick and gray with smog.

"Why?" Nagihiko asks. There's space between their thighs today, and Rima shifts closer to close it "You're finally starting to… get along with Ikuto, right?"

"We've always gotten along," Rima says "That doesn't mean I want to marry him, because we're cordial"

"You looked more than cordial," Nagihiko mutters, and Rima puts her hand on Nagihiko's knee to try and get him to look at her.

"We're not," Rima says, polished nails scraping the seam of Nagihiko's trousers "…more than cordial at all"

"I…" Nagihiko looks down at the books on the table, but he doesn't seem to really see them. Rima rubs her hand in small circles, silently pleading for Nagihiko to look at her again, but Nagihiko just keeps his eyes on the table.

"I might have some books in my room," Nagihiko says "I keep family legend stuff in there for when I have trouble falling asleep"

"This is why your brother turned into a frog," Rima says. "You were hiding the facts

"There's nothing concrete," Nagihiko says "Just stories" Nagihiko pouts "I just like them."

"I have a lot of experience with stories," Rima says "Will you help me, Nagihiko?"

"You know I will," Nagihiko says, reaching down and setting his hand on top of Rima's hand. His hand covers the entirety of Rima's, and Rima feels comforted and safe "We have to go to my room, you know"

"What about…" She looks at Nagihiko's notes, "the representation of the King's official opinion during parliamentary proceedings?"

"There's always tomorrow," Nagihiko says. He holds on tight to Rima's hand, and Rima holds just as tightly back, because she selfishly doesn't want to let go "Let's see what we can find"

#

Nagihiko's rooms are larger than Rima's. That's what makes them feel emptier. But there are pieces of Nagihiko around the room that Rima has never seen before.

"You play guitar?" she asks, and Nagihiko, who had immediately gone over to his bookshelf, looks back in surprise.

"Yeah," he says "My mother used to teach me when I was little"

"Are you any good at it?"

Nagihiko smiles at her, grabbing the guitar and sitting down on the edge of his bed. He pats the space next to him and Rima sits there, their knees brushing as Nagihiko adjusts the guitar in his lap "Not good, but not bad, either. I could play you something?"

"What happened to your mother?" Rima asks, and Nagihiko's fingers stop plucking at the strings, the G ringing loudly in Rima's ears.

"She died," Nagihiko says "This place has a way of taking the life right out of you."

"Help me, Nagihiko," Rima says, and Nagihiko rubs his hands on his trousers, putting the guitar back where it belongs and returning to his bookshelf. He selects two volumes with confident hands, and brings the books back over to Rima.

"These both have the frog legend in them," Nagihiko says "I don't think anyone's ever… not wanted to marry the prince that selected them before"

"Ikuto didn't select me," Rima says "It was an accident"

"It was?" Nagihiko's elbow keeps hitting Rima's, and it makes it hard to think "I didn't know that. I thought there was some reason you both weren't mentioning what brought you here"

"No," Rima says "My stupid friend made me kiss the frog on a stupid bet, and ruined all of our lives, basically" Rima's headpiece slides down, and instead of fixing it, she throws it across the room "This isn't ancient Europe, anyway. There's no hurry to get married. I haven't even been on a proper date since college—" Rima can feel the burn in her eyes, frustrated tears that she refuses to shed.

"I'm really surprised," Nagihiko says, "You have a job and you're funny and you're so attractive" Nagihiko gently pushes the hair away from Rima's forehead, his fingertips burning wherever they brush the skin there "Why wouldn't you go on dates?"

"It's not that I don't, because I do– Do you go on many?" Rima asks, looking down at the books resting on her thighs. They're in English, and Rima knows enough that she can tell it's traditional by all the extra lines.

"You're not the only Rapunzel around here," Nagihiko says. He takes the books from Rima, opening the top one "We'll see what we can find"

They sprawl across Nagihiko's bed, Nagihiko reading from the book and Rima staring at the way Nagihiko mouths the words, his lips making the shapes of English sounds before he turns to Rima and translates it into Japanese.

In one of the books that Rima has started to read but will never finish, she couldn't figure out the main character's motivation. She'd wanted it to be a breakup, but it hadn't seemed real enough, or strong enough.

"_It doesn't make sense for him to be so sad," she'd said to Tadase when she tossed the book in frustration "Sometimes relationships just really don't work out." _

_Tadase shook his head at her "If you can say that," Tadase says, "you've clearly never been in love"_

"_Oh yeah," Rima mutters in annoyance "And you have, with Amu" _

She remembers because Tadase tossed her out of his room in a blink that night.

It makes more sense to Rima now, because she looks at Nagihiko and thinks she wouldn't mind spending the rest of her life lying next to him like this, looking at things in Nagihiko's books and listening to Nagihiko talk about the things he loves. She'd also like to take Nagihiko to a movie and see if he claps stupidly loud at the funny bits of a comedy like she did, or if he'd still smile as brightly once her friends teased him.

She would like Nagihiko to meet her friends, and not have to introduce him as 'my husband's brother'

"I found something," Nagihiko says, breaking Rima's thoughts "In the original legend"

"Really?" Rima scoots closer "What did you find?"

Nagihiko's breath hitches slightly, before he falls into Rima, warm sides against each other "The King's cast-aside betrothed put a curse on the family," Nagihiko says "There's the bit about being twenty-five… and then there's this."

Nagihiko's tongue runs over his lower lip absently. Rima looks quickly down at the book. "What's 'this'?"

"One person who left," Nagihiko says "After kissing the prince, and seeing him turn into a man, his chosen bride, despite her love, ran away in fear of a royal life, wanting to stay with her elderly father and help him through his infirmity"

"Seems reasonable to me," Rima says "What happened to her?"

"She was cursed to never fall in love again," Nagihiko says, and Rima can barely hear him over the sound of her own heart "I think that's the punishment. If you leave Ikuto, you'll never fall in love again"

"Does it say anything after that?" Fairytales always end before you have to work out the real life parts, Rima thinks. She's been to novel after novel, each ending with the kiss, instead of all the fights over who's going to do the dishes.

"She spent the rest of her life in her father's house," Nagihiko says "Alone"

"I'm not afraid of being lonely," Rima says, and Nagihiko looks down at the book in front of him with serious eyes.

"Isn't everyone?" Nagihiko's voice is sad. Rima scoots even closer to Nagihiko then, looping her arm around Nagihiko's so they're hooked together at the elbow, lying on their stomachs in the middle of Nagihiko's bed "You might play at not hating it, but you like people, Rima."

"You don't have to be in love to have people around," Rima says "I've never been in love, I never had to work hard for attention, I was given it without even trying. I wouldn't even know what I was giving up"

It might be the way Nagihiko steals her breath away, though, or the way even when she's really miserable, Nagihiko's bright grin lights up the whole room.

"You'd be giving up a lot," Nagihiko says. He heaves a great sigh. "Ikuto is really a good person, Rima. You could love him."

"That's what he said," Rima says "But you can't just… tell yourself to love someone, or not to love someone."

"How would you know?" Nagihiko says teasingly "I thought you'd never been in love."

It's on the tip of Rima's tongue to tell Nagihiko that if people could choose things like that, Rima would shut off all the things she feels when Nagihiko sits next to her or smiles her way. She would stop wanting Nagihiko and start wanting Ikuto instead, the way she's supposed to.

"I'll keep reading," Nagihiko says hoarsely, and Rima watches him dive back into the text alone, thinking that it would be nice if she could hold Nagihiko's hand again. Nagihiko wouldn't mind it. Nagihiko likes to touch and be touched. "I'll let you know if there's anything interesting."

As Nagihiko reads to himself, not translating anything out loud, Rima gets so caught up in her thoughts that she's surprised at Nagihiko's soft snore "You would fall asleep, wouldn't you?" Rima says, "As I sit here and have a crisis about holding your hand"

She untangles herself from Nagihiko and Nagihiko rolls onto his side, cheek mashed into a book and the ever present headphones smashed at a bad angle on his neck. His mouth is open, and he's slightly drooling.

"It wouldn't be so hard if everything weren't so complicated," Rima says softly. "I'd probably just go along with it."

Rima wasn't expecting Nagihiko to reach out for her and pull her close, so she squeaks with surprise when Nagihiko manhandles her like a teddy bear, arm wrapping just above Rima's stomach and trapping him to the bed.

She fits perfectly into the curve of Nagihiko's body, her back sitting against Nagihiko's chest. Nagihiko's arm squeezes tighter around her grabbing onto Rima's waist and pulling her harder into her, close enough that she can feel Nagihiko's hips pressing into her backside. Rima's chest is going to combust. She feels her face burning at Nagihiko's hand flat on her stomach, and Rima reminds herself that she's not supposed to feel that way about Nagihiko.

She doesn't remember falling asleep, or how she fell asleep at all with her heart going so fast, but she wakes up turned the other way, Nagihiko looking at her from a position so close all Rima would have to do is lean forward slightly to kiss him. Nagihiko's eyes are open, and his headphones are gone "Your makeup is smudged all over my sheets."

"Sorry about that," Rima says "I didn't mean to fall asleep" Nagihiko's leg is between Rima's, and he hasn't moved yet so Rima doesn't move either. It's warm and comfortable with Nagihiko, even if she knows it shouldn't be.

"You have freckles," Nagihiko says "From the heat"

"Amu never has freckles," Rima says. "I really need to get sunscreen, or I'm going to—" She's babbling, and she stops herself by squeezing her lips together so tightly she's sure they must turn white with the effort.

"I like them," Nagihiko says, and then he laughs, his breath hot on Rima's face, blowing Rima's bangs. He seems to notice how close he is then, immediately rolling away and sitting up, and Rima feels the loss keenly.

* * *

**Cookie: Du du dun! Here's my update!**

**Rima: Took you long enough**

**Cookie: Hey! You don't see me typing around, trying to make you throw yourself at Nagihiko**


	8. Chapter 8: Sarcasm makes you ugly

**Here y'all. I love you guys lots for sticking up with this story!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Sarcasm makes you ugly**

"Are you calling to invite me to your wedding?" Utau asks "I saw you on the news, you're a celebrity now."

"I'm not a celebrity," Rima says "I'm…" she ponders "I'm Rapunzel."

"Like I said, a total princess" Utau laughs "It's not like you're trapped in a castle"

"I am," Rima says "There's a curse on the crown prince, and when I kissed him, a part of that was transferred to me. We're cursed together."

"Wait, really?" Utau coughs "I thought it had been kind of a whirlwind romance for you, since you overthink everything. Yuu is still in disbelief. He wouldn't let Saaya take your desk" She adjusts the phone, creating a little static that Rima easily ignores "Is it really that American legend about frogs? The one you asked me about?"

"Would you believe me if I said yes?"

"The prince is too hot to be stuck with you, otherwise," Utau says.

"I appreciate your vote of confidence" She pauses "I have a question. If you found out that you could get a free pass out of all your troubles, but you'd have to give up something in the future for that free pass now, would you take the free pass?"

"You mean like Rumplestiltskin? Giving up your first born child?"

Rima glides her hands down the silk of her nightclothes "Like love," Rima says "What if you'd never be able to fall in love?"

"No deal," Utau says "That's part of being a person. I met Kukai because of love. I wouldn't give up that feeling for anything"

#

That night, Rima dreams of Nagihiko closing the distance between their mouths and kissing him, slowly and carefully like he's afraid he might break her, big hands cupping Rima's hips and nose bumping into Rima's with every break for air.

She wakes up with sticky skin and it's difficult to go back to sleep. Her large room feels very small, and Rima feels even smaller.

#

Ikuto knocks on her door in the morning. Rima opens it "It's late. I thought I would be eating breakfast alone."

"I got all of my work out of the way. I thought we might spend the day together?"

Ikuto is wearing a suit, and he's holding a single flower, which he holds out to Rima in offering "Like a date?"

"Like a date," Ikuto confirms "Since we're getting married and all, we might as well get to know each other."

Ikuto is the perfect gentleman, opening doors and asking all the right questions. She says all the right things, and were this a first date in her old life, Rima would think Ikuto was the best thing since sliced bread. She would get Ikuto's number and ask him out on a second date, because, hey, maybe he'd loosen up if Rima took him out for drinks.

This isn't Rima's old life, though. This is Rima's new life, in California, whats-it, engaged to the crowned prince that just so happens to be in love with Rima's friend.

And as it is, Rima prefers Nagihiko's gentle shoves to Ikuto's awkward pats, and Nagihiko's loud laugh to Ikuto's quiet one.

#

Once, when they were studying in the library, Rima found herself halfway in Nagihiko's lap as Nagihiko tried to explain, for the fourth time, whose aunt was married to whose uncle in some southern province Rima can't pronounce, Rima had looked up at Nagihiko only to find Nagihiko looking back down at her. Nagihiko's arms had fit nicely around Rima's waist as he explained, and Rima had thought 'this is right.'

The thing that Rima likes most about Nagihiko is how much he takes away the sting of being alone here in the palace. With Nagihiko, Rima always feels like she belongs.

#

The first of September is cooler than the first of August by about five degrees, and it's better out in the gardens now.

"I knew I'd find you here," Nagihiko says "You didn't come to the library today, or yesterday."

"I spent the day with Ikuto," Rima says "Yesterday."

"Not just breakfast?" Nagihiko asks and smiles "I'm glad you're both trying"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you know people are more beautiful when they're in love?" Nagihiko says, and then he laughs "It sounds stupid, but I've read that before…"

"Ikuto is nice," Rima says; Nice like the weather today, Nice like a good pair of socks "It's not like I hate him. I think we could be great friends"

"You're not supposed to be friends with him," Nagihiko says "You're supposed to marry him"

"I know that," Rima says, squatting down by the pond. She almost falls in as her clothing gets caught under her incredibly high heels today "I think the flowers here are sad"

"They've seen a lot of a few very sad people," Nagihiko says "Are you sad, Rima?"

"Not when you're around" She dips her fingers in the water, and splashes some at Nagihiko. It gets in his eyes and on his shirt, the white shirt going clear. Rima looks away, turning pink, she had somehow got used to the man's skinship. "How do I cheer the flowers up then?"

"My mother used to sing to them," Nagihiko says "She'd put me on her lap and sing."

"Your mother?" Rima makes a cup with both of her hands in the water, lifting it two palmfuls out of the water and letting it stream out through her fingers.

"You reminded me of her," Nagihiko says "When you were out in the gardens by yourself that day" He laughs "I'd been hearing from Kairi about how when people glared at you in the hallways you glared back. And about how you didn't speak a word of English"

"I know a few words" Rima laughs "I know even more of them, now."

"I thought it was cool how proud you were. You had to have been scared, but you wouldn't let it show on your face Nagihiko bumps her with his shoulder "That's what reminded me of my mother. That's why…"

"Why what?" Nagihiko dips his own fingers into the water, and the silver backed fish came racing to his fingers. Rima has always wondered how deep the water goes. She thinks it's pretty deep, since she can't see all the way to the bottom.

"I must have food on my hands," he says "They never pay this much attention to me."

"You're not answering the question, Nagihiko."

"Why I showed you my mother's garden," he says, and Rima's head jerks up to stare at him in surprise "My father built this for her."

"How did she die?" Rima asks, and it seems less bad to grab his hand in the water, like the slight obfuscation of the ripples means it's alright to slip her fingers between Nagihiko's.

"Heart condition," Nagihiko says "Everyone's heart is always broken, here at the palace, one way or another."

"What about yours?" Rima asks, and then she feels terrible "You don't have to answer that."

Nagihiko chuckles and pats his other hand against his chest "My heart is doing okay" His smile wavers when he looks down at their hands "For now"

One of the fish bites at Rima's knuckle, and she snatches her hand out of the water. "That little-"

Today, exceptionally, her gown is so heavy that pulling back only brings her up halfway. Her exceptionally large diamond headpiece starts to slip, and she tries to grab it, and ends up falling forward and into the water.

The water is deep. Deep enough that Rima's toes barely scrape the bottom at first. Her head is under the surface of the water, and she gets a mouthful of water when she screams. She starts to swim upward but her robes are too thick and unwieldy.

She needs air, her limbs flailing in an attempt to get back above the surface.

Arms wrap around him, then, and she's being pulled upward by them. When her head breaks the water she gasps in a huge gulp of air. "You're okay," Nagihiko says "I've got you, Rima."

"Thank you," Rima says, after she climbs out of the water, Nagihiko flopping down beside her, breathing heavily. Rima coughs and feels the icky pond water in her throat "That was about to become a completely different fairytale"

"Can't let you drown, Rapunzel," Nagihiko says, pulling Rima into a hug as she shivers "Do they not teach you how to swim in those towers?"

"I can swim just fine when I'm not weighed down by so much material" Rima says "I could barely move"

"It's a good thing I was here to save you, then," Nagihiko says "It's part of my princely duties."

"Thank you, my prince," Rima says, covering up the tremble of her voice with the playful flirting she'd refined with Amu.

She expects Nagihiko to laugh, but instead, Nagihiko's face falls, and he looks at Rima with water dripping from his eyelashes and onto his smooth soft cheeks, his hair glistening from the sunlight "I wish I was," he says, and Rima's heart leaps like a frog, up into her throat, hanging out there as Nagihiko looks into her eyes.

"You…" Rima begins, but then she doesn't because if she asks the question do you like me as much as I like you she isn't sure which answer, 'yes' or 'no' will hurt more.

"I'm not your prince," Nagihiko says, not letting Rima down from the circle of his arms, even though Rima must be too heavy in all of these robes "I don't think I should forget that"

"I know," Rima says, and she buries her face in Nagihiko's neck and feels the beat of Nagihiko's pulse against her forehead like a constant reminder.

Kairi helps her out of some of her excess layers of gowns when she arrives, dripping, back to her room. "You're not smiling," Kairi says "Why?"

"I want to go home," Rima says "I want to try writing fantasy novels, not live them" Kairi doesn't understand the second part, but he pats Rima's cheeks and smiles at her reassuringly anyway.

"Magic is hard," Kairi says "Everything is hard"

"Ain't that the truth," Rima says, as Kairi stands by with a frown of her own as a servant eases her into a green gown for dinner.

Nagihiko doesn't look at her from across the table, and Rima has a sudden vision of the rest of her life.

She internally rattles at the bars of this cage she never wanted, but externally, she smiles, and pushes the seafood around on her plate.

"Are you looking forward to the wedding?" The King asks in stilted Japanese, and Rima forces herself to smile.

"Yes," she says, and doesn't mean it at all.

#

The last two weeks before the wedding pass agonizingly slow. It would be better if Rima didn't feel so far away from Nagihiko, but Nagihiko won't look at her, and Rima is getting married.

#

Amu looks so very tired "Getting ready for the ceremony, huh?" she looks around at all the special pure white tube gown with a very fluffy skirt.

"You should have kissed the frog," Rima says, very annoyed "I told you you'd be jealous when it turned into royalty"

"I am jealous," Amu says, kicking at Rima but not quite long enough to reach her from her chair "If you tell anyone, though, I'll feed you bleach"

"Why don't you just marry Ikuto instead?" Rima looks at the gown laid out and thinks they'd fit Amu, as well, though it might land on her ankles, unlike in Rima's case where the tips grazes the floor without heels.

"You're the one who has to," Amu says "You're the one that kissed the frog and turned him back into a prince"

"Ikuto doesn't love me, you know that right?" Rima's newly polished nails feel nice going through her hair. Her hair have grown out longer again and it needs a cut

"You don't love him, either," Amu says "I can tell. You talk about him like you talk about Tadase"

"How is that?"

"The same way you talk about your plants," Amu says "With mild consternation"

Amu looks at the wedding dress longingly. Rima wishes as much as Amu does that it were Amu marrying Ikuto tomorrow.

"He was looking for you," Rima says, because Amu is dumb if she can't see the way Ikuto is stares at her longingly whenever she comes to visit. Then again, Amu was dumb enough not to know Ikuto was the crown prince in the first place, so Rima won't put anything past her "He was waiting for you to kiss him."

"What?" Amu's hair is back to a normal comforting color of pink, rather than the neon one, and as she looks at Rima with wide eyes, Rima thinks she looks as pale as a ghost like this "Me?"

"That's why he was following us" Rima looks around the room again "He loves you"

"Well, he's marrying you," Amu says, and Rima does notice the crinkles at the corners of Amu's eyes, one she never noticed, just as Ikuto had mentioned. Because you notice things like that about the people you love, Rima thinks.

Like she notices Nagihiko's habit of throwing his head back either forward and backward slightly when he laughs and the way he has the habit of running a hand on his hair when he feels frustrated about a book.

"No," Rima says, "He's not"

Amu glares at her suspiciously, and Rima smiles, sure in her decision "It's not hot enough for you to blame whatever crazy thing you're thinking about on heat stroke"

"I'm leaving," Rima says "Tonight"

"Rima, there are… I mean, there are a lot of old legends, and all of them have consequences when you break a magical promise" Amu purses her mouth "You're not doing this for… me, are you?"

"I am," Rima says. "But I'm also doing it for me, too" She chuckles "I never thought I'd end up engaged to an actual prince" She starts stripping of her clothes "Amu, I can't just sit here and wait to marry Ikuto when I'm so in love with Nagihiko, it's eating me up" Amu kicks at the floor. Rima is out of breath, like she's just run a race "Or Prince Nathan, I should say"

"You know…" Amu hesitates, but Rima can see the hope in her eyes and it just strengthens Rima's resolve "You won't be able to stay at the palace, once you end things with Ikuto"

"I know," Rima says. "I'm counting on that. It'll make things simpler."

"You won't be able to see either of the princes again."

"I know," Rima repeats. "I'm going back to Japan" She grabs Amu's arm "It would be kind of embarrassing for Ikuto if there was no one around to marry him tomorrow. You should stay here."

"But, Rima, are you sure…" Amu's eyebrows gather in the middle of her forehead "Do you know what the consequences will be?"

"I have an idea," Rima says "But it seems to me I'll have to face them either way" No way that Rima can see has her ending up with Nagihiko. It might hurt more than never being in love again to be in love always, but never able to touch or kiss or just have "Whether I leave or stay, it's going to suck"

"How are you even getting out?" Amu asks, and Rima grins at him, offering her thumbs up, like when Amu used to watch from the sidelines of Rima's tournaments, or Kukai's soccer matches, or Utau's concerts.

"I don't know yet," Rima says "But there's someone I can ask for help" She lays her outer robes on the bed one by one. They're hard to take off without help, and Amu stands up to help her peel them off.

They both look up when the door opens, but it's only Kairi who looks back and forth between them with confusion, and then a slow understanding.

"Marie is leaving?" Kairi asks, and Amu begins to speak to him rapidly and nervous in English. Kairi nods along, and when Amu is finished, Kairi's lips curve up in a small grin "I'll take you," he says.

Rima smiles at him thankfully as Kairi walks past her, opening an ornate wooden drawer beneath the bed that Rima had never even noticed and hands her a normal orange sundress she recognizes as her own "Where…?"

"I brought them along when we brought you here," Amu says "You were only wearing your pajamas and a T-shirt. You were so embarrassing."

"Sorry about that," Rima says. "I should have thought about my appearance while I was busy being petrified of the transforming frog-man!"

"Sarcasm makes you look ugly," Amu says, and Rima punches her in the shoulders for old times' sake. Amu laughs, picking up Rima's computer case and handing it to her. Rima takes it from her, the weight familiar on her shoulder.

"Well laughing makes you look ugly," she says "And you're ugliest when you're laughing at me"

"Good luck," Amu says, as Rima fastens her dress as Kairi turned around "Don't get caught."

Rima gestures to the gowns, and sighs at Amu's hair "You either" She smiles at Kairi. "Kairi is a great bodyguard," Rima says "He won't let me get caught."

She leaves Amu behind in her room, hoping that will somehow work out, but believing that at least that part of this whole fairytale should "Where are we going?" Rima whispers and Kairi puts his finger to his lips to call for silence.

"Where you want to go," Kairi says.

* * *

**Cookie: And so she makes her move**

**Rima: You look ugly**

**Cookie: Your opinion is ugly**

**Rima: You're ugly**

**Cookue: No you're- just, nevermind**


	9. Chapter 9: Marraige Boring

**Chapter 9: Marriage = Boring**

Rima follows Kairi through the halls. They go on away she's never gone before, and Rima realizes that these are the back halls, the ones the servants use to stay a step ahead of the people they serve at all times.

They return to the main hall in front of a set of doors Rima recognizes. "These are Nagihiko's rooms," she hisses at Kairi, and Kairi nods.

"Where you wanted to go," he says, and then uses a large key from his pocket to unlock the double doors.

Rima follows him in through the first set, and Kairi stops in front of the second set, pushing the key into Rima's palm. "You can't leave if you don't say goodbye," Kairi tells her, smirking slightly, and Rima blushes as red as the roses on her room "I'll come back" Kairi looks down at his watch "One hour"

Rima opens the doors alone. She sets her laptop down by a chair near Nagihiko's bookcase, next to a stack of books that threatens to fall if Rima were to look at it funny "Nagihiko?"

Nagihiko isn't asleep. His lights are off, but with the moonlight that filters in from outside Rima can see that he's awake, his eyes on the ceiling. At Rima calling his name, he sits up, his covers falling from him to pool at his waist. His chest is bare, and Rima likes the way his collarbones stick out sharply beneath the line of his shoulders.

"Rima?" Nagihiko says, before he buries his hands in his blankets "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to say goodbye," Rima says "well, Kairi wanted me to say goodbye"

"What are you talking about?" Nagihiko says "Aren't you locked up in the tower until the prince saves you?" Nagihiko rests his head against his headboard "Your wedding is tomorrow"

"Amu's in my room," Rima says "She'll look enough like me in all the veils and makeup that anyone who isn't from the palace will be confused for as long as it counts. They've never seen me without my heels, height wouldn't matter"

"But why…" Nagihiko's hand feels around the table next to his bed for something, but he gave up "Rima, we read about what might happen…"

"Amu and Ikuto are in love with each other," Rima says.

"And what about you?" Nagihiko asks "You can't leave. You're supposed to marry Ikuto, if you marry him, even if… Even if it will be hard, there's always the garden"

"I'm leaving," Rima says again and walked a bit towards him "I can't marry someone else, Nagihiko"

"Someone else?" Nagihiko frees one hand from his blanket, reaching up to cup Rima's face.

"You were wrong, before," Rima says "You are my prince."

"Rima…" Nagihiko's hand curves around Rima's neck. He's shaking, Rima thinks. She is too. "You're not mine. You're..."

"I'm not anyone's," Rima says "Right? If Amu marries Ikuto tomorrow, I'll never be anyone's"

Nagihiko looks torn. His hand stays at the back of Rima's neck, and Rima moves closer, getting onto the bed and taking a chance, straddling Nagihiko's hips so she can look at him in the eyes, no matter how inappropriate.

"Since I'm leaving," Rima asks while staring at the parted lips of Nagihiko, who was suddenly so nervous by her actions, his hot breath tempting her "can I kiss you?"

"But Ikuto…" Nagihiko says, and Rima slides her lips at Nagihiko's own, a bit, but not touching

"Is not my prince," Rima says, and Nagihiko laughs, so quietly, and leans forward to kiss her.

If she's only going to have one chance to kiss Nagihiko, Rima is going to make sure she'll never forget it. Emotions try to claw their way out of her as she feels Nagihiko's breath against her lips, tiny puffs of air that are as intoxicating as the feeling.

Rima's hand wandered up to Nagihiko's straight silky hair and she tried so hard not to do anything beyond the lines. Nagihiko kissed the corner of Rima's lips, lips trailing lightly from her skin only to land on to the spot under her ear and Rima let him. She liked his long eyelashes tickling her ears. Rima kissed Nagihiko's temple and she leaned her forehead on his. Rima can see Nagihiko trying to stay awake and suddenly, she wondered how many sleepless nights the prince had.

In the end, Nagihiko had closed his eyes and sighed, his hand on Rima's waist was dropping and Rima laughed softly, he looked so serene, she held both Nagihiko's cheeks and she kissed his forehead softly "Hey, I love you"

Rima gently got off from her straddle and placed a blanket on Nagihiko. With an exposed chest, he could catch a cold; after all, it was near December. She took her laptop and exited the room, not bothering to give a last glance at Nagihiko, knowing she would only be tempted to rest beside him.

Rima licked her lips and exited his room to meet Kairi. She handed him the keys with finality.

"Are you really going to leave?" Kairi asks, and Rima whispers "yes".

She follows Kairi into the side hallways, saying goodbye to Nagihiko mentally and the palace, looking straight ahead toward home.

#

The first thing Rima notices when she gets off the plane in Japan is the breeze. It's that slice of fall Japan always get before winter sets in hard, and Rima takes a deep breath of it. The second thing Rima notices, when she sees her ride waiting for her, casually dressed in white capris and a blue button up, is that Kukai's hair is even longer than before.

"Hey," Kukai says. "Welcome home" He grins "I thought I'd be late, but I was just on time."

"Hey," Rima says, voice crackling at the sight of a familiar smile in a familiar place and Kukai looks at her in a panic.

"Don't cry!" Kukai says "You know I don't know what to do with crying people!"

"I'm not going to cry," Rima says "I don't have anything to cry about" She pats Kukai on the arm.

"You don't have anything?" Kukai asks, searching for a suitcase "Just the laptop?"

Rima waves her passport, which has luckily been in her computer case "No," she says "Just me"

"Then let's get you home," Kukai says "Your neighbor, Kirishima… He's been watering your plants."

"That's a relief," Rima says, and gets into the car.

"I saw the royal wedding over on TV this morning," Kukai says "Saw Amu marrying that prince you were engaged to. Even the prince looked surprised by that" Kukai clears his throat. "On second thought, please tell me you don't want to talk about that either"

"I don't," Rima says, and turns on the radio as loud as it would go.

#

Rima turns off the internet after the fifth mention of the crown prince's wedding. It's not that she resents them getting married; she doesn't, and the Queen's pleased smile and Amu's fluent English rendition of her required speech probably pleases the people as much as they do her. She does, however, feel unsteady and somber when she sees Nagihiko standing behind Ikuto, his right-hand man, with a worn smile on his face and anxiousness in his eyes that Rima is responsible for.

With the internet off, there's not much to do but look into the text document Rima's been slowly adding into since she arrived at the palace. She has notes about Nagihiko, notes about Ikuto... Even more revealing are the notes about her.

She starts to write before she can think better of it, feelings spilling onto the page easier than they ever have before.

She goes back to work for the first time the next day and Utau makes an alarmed noise at her that's somewhere between a rooster at dawn and an injured pup. "Do you get jetlag flying from America to Korea?" she asks, and Rima sighs.

"No," she says "I've been working on a novel"

"I'll believe it when I see it," Utau says, as Saaya glares at her from her desk way too near the door, and Yuu waves in a sedate hello.

"I'm going to finish this one," Rima promises.

#

Rima's neighbor, Kirishima, knocks on her door four days after she gets back.

"I heard you'd returned," he says, holding out Rima's house keys "You know, when you said you wanted me to look after your plants for a few weeks, I didn't know that meant a few months."

"I thought you'd stop," Rima says "I'm so sorry, I had no idea I'd be gone this long"

"It's okay, I didn't mind," Kirishima says, grinning. "Besides, you're pretty cute, so it was no bother."

Rima smiles back at Kirishima "Thanks," she says "I really appreciate it" She doesn't feel anything. No pleasure at the compliment, no spark of interest, unlike before. She doesn't know if it's the broken magic at work, or if Rima is just so full of Nagihiko that there's no room for anyone else.

"Not a problem," Kirishima says, and Rima closes the door, resting her back against it for minutes afterward before she returns to her laptop, sitting down and getting back to writing, the only thing keeping her busy.

#

It only takes her two months to finish a draft of her novel. She devotes hours to it every day, trying to record every frustrated emotion she can't make go away.

It takes her almost the whole of another month to work up the nerve to show it to anyone. "How's the book you're writing coming along?" Utau asks her, and Rima gags as she tries to tell Utau it's finished.

"I think it's..."

"Send it to me," Utau says "Let me look at something you've written, for once."

She emails the manuscript to Utau on a Friday, and Utau corners her about it the following week, after the Wednesday deadline rush that has all of them buried under piles of last minute submissions.

"Rima," Utau says, stopping Rima as she heads to the fax machine, "I finished."

"You finished what?" Rima asks.

"Your book," she replies "I finished reading your book."

"Oh," Rima says "What did you think?"

"It was really, really good, Rima!" Utau says "Really good! I loved the lords, you know, and I loved Rapunzel; the way she was caught between obeying the curse and following her heart."

"Yeah," Rima says "I wanted her to really be put in a lose-lose situation."

"It created a lot of tension! I thought she was going to marry the first lord, toward the end there."

"It wasn't an easy choice," Rima says "For Rapunzel, I mean."

"It was nice to read something different," Utau says "I love clichés, but this one was done a little differently" Utau leans against the wall "You're good, Rima. I don't know why you've never showed me a whole story before."

"None of them ever felt finished enough," Rima explains "This one feels finished"

"The only thing is," Utau says, "the ending was so unsatisfying"

"That's how life is," Rima says "Sometimes you don't get a good ending. Sometimes you just have to keep going."

"But this," Utau says, waving Rima's manuscript around, "isn't real life! It's a fairytale, Rima! I wanted to read a happily ever after"

"Then what you need," Rima says, walking around Utau so she can use the fax machine, "is a different story. This is how my story ends. That's the way it is."

"It doesn't have to," Utau says. "Isn't it your story?" Utau frowns. "You can write a different ending, if you want."

#

Rima answers her phone without looking at the ID "Mashiro Rima," she says. "Hello?"

"Mashiro!" Amu says, and Rima almost drops the phone.

"Amu," Rima says "Tell me all about, I don't know, everything?"

"The Queen thinks I have deplorable manners," Amu says, "but she likes my English accent"

"That's good to hear," Rima says "You've already won her over, then."

"How are you?" Amu asks "I could talk about Ikuto, and the palace, but you already know about that. So tell me about you. How are you, Rima?"

"Not bad," Rima says. "We're busy at work. Lots of boring novels this month too, but a couple of interesting ones, Yuu is in talks to get an English translation for one of them, actually, so that's interesting, and..."

"How are you?" She's more insistent "Not your job. No one cares about your job. You don't even care about your job."

"I care about my job," Rima says half-heartedly "Yuu cares a lot about our job."

"Rima, don't make me hit you."

"You and what army now?" Rima asks "Don't mess with a Judo champion" Amu laughs, and Rima thinks she sounds happy "I'm cold"

"No one asked about weather, either. You've probably got the heat so high it feels like California summer in there, but you'll complain as soon as it gets hot outside again."

"I wasn't talking about the weather," Rima says, pressing the heel of her palm into her chest "I just feel really cold."

Nagihiko had been warm. Rima remembers perfectly the warmth of his company provides her. Only that, she thinks.

"Oh," Amu says "I think Nathan is cold, too."

"There's nothing we can really do about that," Rima says "I made my decision for everyone's benefit"

"Aren't you lonely, Rima?" Amu asks, and the answer is yes.

"I can handle loneliness," Rima says "I'm glad you're happy."

"I am" Amu says "Thank you"

"I'm going to go now," she says. "You're boring now that you're married."

"You were always boring," Amu retorts "Except when you were drunk."

"Avada Kedavra," she says, and hangs up. There's a chill in her flat. Rima turns up the heat until the mirrors start to fog, but she can still feel the cold in her bones.

The only person who can warm her is beyond her reach now.

* * *

**Cookie: Huh~! Huh~! Bet you didn't expect that! Bet you weren't expecting that! Welp, if you're unsatisfied, Rima says and I quote "What you need, is a different story. This is how my story ends. That's the way it is."** **Don't you guys go quoting Utau on me now!**

**Rima: Your abusing your free time, go study for your prelims next week.**

**Cookie: Oh that's what teamwork was invented for. Besides there was a 3 day blackout so we have an excuse to use.**


End file.
